Category Archives: Reframe

Making Room

Jan
11
2019
by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage2017

Happy New Year 2019

My purpose with this blog and in general is to offer insight and encouragement in life’s transitions. To do that this time I’m remembering a time that I was a professional organizer When I started I helped people organize their offices, houses, garages … by helping them to set up systems to be more productive and to make room by managing their “stuff” in an effective way. I’d shop for products that would help clients contain their items and have less clutter, or more organized clutter. When people heard that I was a P.O. they’d often get a bit nervous or make comments that indicated they had often felt judged for being disorganized. My standard answer was that effective organization was not about being a “neat freak” but having a simple system that allowed a way to find and track things so that it would be easier to find what was needed when we needed it and so on.

It didn’t take long to realize that there was really a much more fundamental reason to address some issues around organizing. Yes having good tools and systems worked to often “busy our way through things” as a friend recently stated … but effective organization affects our relationships and gives us opportunities to make room to discern what is perhaps hiding in our heart that we’d love to explore and act on.

So with that background I’d like to share some thoughts to help us discern what it is that we might want to start making room for in our lives this year? (For those who are dealing with deep grief because of loss of loved ones or other losses your transition in this season will offer challenges that go far beyond what I’m sharing today.)

If we can’t say no, we can’t say yes to something that we might be wanting to address in this season. New beginnings or endings when thought about or acted on allow new perspective and opportunity. Adapt to the season you’re in … don’t try to be more than you need to be,(or less) just be who you are. Making room implies more space … what are you going to choose to allow to enter into that space … take your time. How would you like to spend this year,day,moment,to honor your commitment to what brings you joy and contentment? What would you like to discover, plan,create and solve personally or professionally? Who would you like to spend more time with this year? What is the next action I can take to improve my relationship with others … and perhaps we can all reflect on the grace of new beginnings and ask how we can contribute to reduce the turmoil in our land and agree to disagree with respect

Our duck in today’s image has the ability to be who it is by design and function and doesn’t need a lot of ‘stuff’ … my oh my what a peaceful reflection. (and moments later duck was back with the others) May you experience joy and peace in your reflections.
IBK

Also posted in New Beginning, Pruning, Seasons, Seeing In New Ways, Uncategorized

Revisiting Part 2

Oct
19
2018
by IBK | 1 Comment
IBK Maine 10-19-2011

IBK Taking A Closer Look

Last month when I shared about revisiting as a part of transition, I sensed from my own experience that there was a summary, a wrapping up of a time of specific actions leading to a new now “revisited” place … a launching place for a new season. Instead it seems it was more of a rest area by the roadside on a continuing journey. Revisiting gives one lots of information and can lead to new actions, but … those new actions then lead to new commitments and finding a way to incorporate the new into the old routines takes some work.

Case in point; In my months of revisiting I had chosen to upgrade my computer versions to better support my blogging and photography. My old ™I Pad was no longer upgradable which also meant less secure. It was however still usable for storing photos, watching movies and general writing, note taking and so on … however before I could “wipe the data” and give it away to my non-cable watching relatives, I had to check and move a lot of data between old and new devices and versions. Little did I know that I would be in a bootcamp computer workshop/training with my own “look up how to do this curriculum” for over two weeks.

There were several other focused choices and everyday pieces of business and daily routines, which then turned into today October, 19th, six weeks after revisiting and committing to start putting out a blog every two weeks. 🙂

So the point is, like in this picture of your blogger and photographer, take a closer look, say yes to what is yours to choose, and give yourself time to travel on your journeys, while continuing to lighten the load. IBK

Also posted in Cropping, Insight, Letting Go, Road Trip, Seeing In New Ways, Waiting Tagged , , , , , , |

Move On

Jul
20
2018
by IBK | 1 Comment

©2018IBKimage

In 2003 Roger von Oech created a set of cards called: “Innovative Whack Pack … 60 Creativity Strategies to Provoke and Inspire Your Thinking.” On one side of the card is an insight from Heraclitus, who according to von Oesch was “the world’s first creativity teacher … on the other side a strategy “inspired by each insight” and enriched by the author in a clever way to “whack you” out of old thought patterns.

On card # 43, this Insight: “A thing rests by changing” and then an explanation: “This paradox assumes that everything is always changing and that”it often takes less energy to move on to the next phase than fighting to stay in the current one.” Going with the flow in the river is suggested vs. swimming against the current. And then this: “If you allow yourself to let go of a cherished position, strategy, or belief – especially one that takes increasingly more effort to hold on to – you are more easily able to discover new alternatives.”

So today’s question: “where would your energy be better focussed: on where you’ve been or on where you’re going? Is it time …to move on to the next phase? Only you can answer that. Hint: think of  several applications e.g.  If I continue to keep track of ways that didn’t work will that allow me to take a next step? … and so on.

Today’s image from a stairway between floors at the Denver Art Museum is perhaps an illustration of this issue. If at the bottom I move up the stairs I’m moving to the next phase(exhibition) to discover a new offering. If I’m at the top looking back I can remind myself where I’ve been but not stay there since it could “increasingly take more effort” …
IBK

Also posted in Courage, Insight, Letting Go, New Beginning, Uncategorized Tagged , , , , |

Distortion and Delight

Jul
05
2018
by IBK | 1 Comment


©2018 IBKimage

It’s so easy to allow the distortions of reality to become the reality that we often proceed from … whether in major transitions or the familiar repeated patterns of our daily habits. External and internal conditions can draw us to false conclusions.

Years ago someone told me a story about a fear of driving over a mountain pass to get to her place of employment in a neighboring town. This was not an unfamiliar route, but the weather conditions were more challenging and she was very fearful. “What if I slide off the road and no one finds me; what if I wreck my car and can’t” … and so on. She then stopped these thoughts and asked herself: ” If this is my last night on earth, do I want to live it being fearful?” With that reframe she proceeded on her way, able to drive on in wonderment of what the moonlight revealed with every new turn down the mountain.

That story changed me. I was afraid of heights and a few other things … when we leave the present for the past we often dance regret; too much time in future anticipations attracts doubts and fears. Author Jan Phillips says this: “We are vulnerable to fear only when we leave the present … It’s in the present moments that I belong. Only there do I feel my balance, find my oneness with all creatures, with all life, with the meadows and mountains.”

Jan’s book is about contemplative photography and as I slowly work through it, I understand again that when I bring the camera to my eye … the peace I feel in that moment in time is the privilege of presence.

Todays image is a deliberate distortion taken from the outdoor track of the Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Denver. Taking a photo at high noon on a sunny day is usually not very realistic, but by shooting into the reflections that the tall buildings provided … conditions changed … it was a dance in the moment delight.
IBK

Also posted in Seeing In New Ways Tagged , |

Waiting For The Tide To Come In

Jun
15
2018
by IBK | 2 Comments


©IBKimage2018

Sometimes in our transitions, the boat just doesn’t float. It’s tied up and waiting to go out again but until the water provides the lift the vessel waits. I took this image on a recent trip to Ireland as I was waiting for a small excursion boat to take us back from a lovely island estate … now a beautiful botanic garden open to the public.

The reason I use this image instead of one from the garden, is that in seeing that old boat, I realized I was waiting for my own tide to come in. Specifically I was exhausted and praying for direction and the only way to solve that was to wait it out. Sometimes in our transitions whether major or just the muddling through parts, we often try so hard to do more, when waiting and doing basic things like sleeping more, eating less, singing, dancing,listening and accepting offers of help from family and friends is liberating. Retreating wherever that may be and how that works for you is vital for flourishing I think … even a few moments in the midst of a busy day.

So after a few months of being in dry dock and choosing to recommit to fewer things, I’m noticing that without working at it, and lots of small acts of intention, reflection and prayer, the tide has returned and I want to continue to offer insight and encouragement in life’s transitions through word and image. Stay tuned. Remember too that you can always unsubscribe by replying to this mailing if you’d like to move on.
Best,IBK

Also posted in Uncategorized, Waiting Tagged , , , , |

Thinking in Threes

Mar
02
2018
by IBK | 2 Comments

©2009 IBKimage

Dear Readers,

It’s March 1st and I’ve been hibernating a bit and it does look like I’m springing forward to summer when this image was made at Crested Butte, CO – a year after I moved to Denver CO from the flatland of Nebraska. Bu it’s really an image I chose to illustrate something I’ve discovered or perhaps rediscovered about transitions.  When the world around you feels chaotic , when the changes are too many or to few or too fast or too slow; or oh so many choices in everything   … try thinking in threes.

 

I offer some questions:  What three things could I focus on that if done regularly would offer a “lot of juice for the squeeze”; who are three people in my life at various times that have inspired me and why; what three things have I learned about myself when I have failed; how about three things I really need or want to stop doing; what three books have I enjoyed the most or learned from and what were the three reasons I did; what are three ways that I could make a difference in something the world or my community or network needs; and so on.

It seems a bit silly, but thinking in three provides clarity, boundaries and flexibility to act on priorities. It’s also dynamic so as your situation changes … what three things … and so on.

A few examples if I might from my own life:  As I’ve aged and now am in what I call the “4th quarter of my life” I’m learning to listen more, talk less, and remind myself to listen more.  :-). I’ve discovered that many of the wonderful books I’ve read and enjoyed and learned from now seem like they belong on someone else’s book shelf. The three most important things for my health now is to move daily in some way, eat less and more nutrient dense food,  and sleep when I’m tired.  In terms of personal relationships, I keep trying to get over myself , invest in the next generation, and bask in the gift of friends past and present.

 

So as I like to say: “Offering insight and encouragement … now it’s your turn.”

IBK

Also posted in Cropping, Pruning, Seeing In New Ways

Changing Our Viewpoint

Jul
13
2017
by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage2017

A lesson I keep learning from my photography is that if you can’t capture a desired image which the eye sees, you have to move yourself to account for  the camera’s limitation.  Similarly, by shifting  position one can make an image look like it’s taken in sunny Italy, when it’s less than a half of a mile from a busy part of Interstate 70 in Denver.  In today’s image we’re seeing a pump house along Berkley Lake near my home, where I often walk in the evening when the summer heat dissipates.

 

Walking around this lake has also given me an opportunity to see some stunning sunsets, without the interference of electrical wires ubiquitous  in the alleys in my older neighborhood.  There’s a point here I think that perhaps helps us when we are anticipating, in the midst of, or just having encountered a transition of some kind.  Shifting our perspective and choosing (or being forced to by circumstance) to view a situation in a new way, can fix our eyes and hearts to perhaps see new viewpoints that can … in the moment … or after a passage of time, bless in new ways.

IBK

Also posted in Courage, Insight, Letting Go Tagged , , |

It’s Not ‘PERRRRfect’

Jun
02
2017
by IBK | 3 Comments

 

©2010IBKimage

 

 

 

No matter where we go today we encounter the world of the perpetual “perfect” as spoken in cliche in many interactions.  I don’t think ‘perfect’ gives us enough vocabulary to describe a current situation and/or an often challenging transition that one might be in the midst of.  So today I encourage you to embrace the freedom of the imperfect …whatever that means for you.

 Today’s image breaks a lot of the ‘rules’ of photography but in the course of several gloomy days in a wet 2010 spring, it was an imperfect image that captured a beautiful moment of grace  as I walked my neighborhood that day.

IBK

Also posted in Authenticity, Imperfect Tagged , , , |

Shift Happens

Jul
31
2015
by IBK | 0 Comments

We’ve heard the term  ” ***t happens” … a deadline looms ; health issues change our routines; a new job requires re-orientation from familiar patterns; the dog dies; the old arguments resurface; you live with a two year old; and so on. It is  easy in these times to quickly seek an answer,to work at a solution, to make our case, and to do more, and seek what will bring everything back in balance.

 

Having recently experienced several non routine events in some areas of my life, I’d like to offer an insight.  Instead of spending so much energy trying to work to keep it all under control,I wondered what I might need for myself during a time that required more of me than I might have.  Paradoxically by shifting my focus to a series of small 30 minute diversions, I discovered an easier way to deal with the challenging.   In photography you often achieve focus by shifting your position vs. changing the lens.

 

On of my diversions is the greenhouse at the Denver Botanic Garden, today’s featured image.

Where is a place that you can take yourself too to find a renewed perspective?

 

©IBKimage2015

©IBKimage2015

Also posted in Seasons Tagged , , |