DAY 10: OUR SHADOW
ARE YOU FINDING YOUR INNER CRITIC IS RISING UP ABOUT 'ENOUGHNESS’ THINGS THAT AREN'T BODY RELATED? LIKE THE TECHNICAL OR CREATIVE SIDE...OR EVEN THE CONDITIONS YOU THINK YOU NEED IN ORDER TO TAKE THE PHOTO?
Today's shadow prompt is often pretty gentle on us, body image wise, but I notice that this and other prompts might also be brining up your inner critic in a different way. Is your inner critic showing up telling you that your photo isn't enough creatively or technically? Or that the conditions need to be 'perfect' to take the photo? For example, if the sun isn't out today is it telling you to give up or wait until later...but as long as there is light around you, there will be your shadow. Could you let whatever the conditions are, whatever the gear you have is, whatever the moment brings...be enough? Just something to ponder and explore today!
From June 10, 2022: #Embracing and #confronting our #shadow can be difficult for me. I don’t like #confrontation. I shy away from it a lot. Today’s @beyourownbeloved #photo and #reflective writing prompts focussed in on the concept of the shadow.
We had fairly good weather today: it was both #sunny and #bright. So, I took the easy photos: ones where the sun hung high overhead, reflecting my frame onto #mundane surfaces like the grass and the pavement. But even my Monkey Mind felt they were shots I and so many others had done before.
So I left it for awhile… in fact, I almost forgot about it. Then, as I made my way out of my #bedroom early that evening, I caught a glimpse of my shadowy figure climbing up the wall. And I was enchanted. I wondered if that’s how artist Richard Hambleton @richardhambletonfoundation first discovered the kind of lanky figure that would form the basis for the shadowmen he painted in the 1970s and 80s. Had he glimpsed his own shadow on the wall of his flat a half century ago?
Today, I feel #tired. I slept in again. Eventually, I headed out and had a #manicure to shed the dry skin off of my feet. I have a #fan on at night and it sits near the foot of my bed, but wow it leaves my #feet so dry.
I also picked up a new @thetorocompany gas #lawn #mower as our older one finally bit the dust a few weeks ago. The grass at Mum’s needs cutting. It’s really high in some places, and my Maltese poodle pup along with my Mom’s miniature poodle push through it, as if trying to form a path through African long grass, with blades that were as high as their heads in some spots. It’s how I feel about life when my monkey mind natters away - it’s like I’m cutting through long grass, unsure of my destination, unsure of my life. And when I’m broken, I feel as ephemeral as my shadow on the wall.
161/365.
This image was first posted on Instagram and Flickr.
#beyourownbeloved #beyourownbeloved💖 #depressionhelp #depressionawareness #startingover #selflove #selflovejourney #selflove #dailyselfie #dailywriting #subvertedselfies #subvertedselfie #art #photography #photo #selfloveisnotselfish #sad #depressed