Miami is Calling You...

(C) 2010 Philip Brooker

For me, this was a welcome invitation to receive. I looked at the suitcase and thought of how wonderful it would be to see this master artist again. What most of you probably haven't realized is that you have seen his work throughout the world, but haven't been aware of the creator. At times, this giving soul has lent his incredible talent to many non-profit events, such as Haiti and others along the way.

However, he is, an artist, a film maker, a silent humanitarian, a life with misspelled words, and above all a friend. In a world that tries to make everything into a competition and about comparing, we often fail to look and observe. Very often, I have found that we all need to dial ourselves down and remember what life was like before all of the business of busy-ness came into our lives.

Slow down and look.

Plan to go to Miami, and while you are there, go to Lincoln Avenue. Let this poster collection be an invitation to discover the works of Philip Brooker.

Go ahead...you have time.

I have always believed that art should tell a story, even tell us parts we may at times not want to hear, without words.

So turn the page...

No Words

Journey to Zhong Shan to Find My Way

"Don't look at the finger pointing to the moon. It's just a finger. The moon is the moon, not the finger." I don't know how many times Dr. Luke Chan said that to me and the small group that met with him to study Chi Lel Qigong for the past three weeks. However, I needed this oasis more than anyone knew, even myself.Before I had departed, I had looked at what my blog had become. It was a huge departure from the direction I wanted. So, I had 'deleted' my blog, and when I made the journey back, I resolved to revive my blog along with my revived perspective on life. I honestly don't know how it happened. It seemed like I was noticing more and more negative aspects in life than the positive ones I had been used to seeing. It got to such a point that it was effecting everything in my life, to include my health. So I did what I needed to do, and found something that worked for me while here in China. Though the practice is Chi-Lel is largely based on the principles on the Tao te Ching or Dao de Jing (whichever preference you have). I found it to have many positive aspects that went beyond the physical, to effect a positive mind and body connection that was noticed almost immediately.
Also during my stay, we saw the incredible history of this city, which was the birthplace of the most revered person in modern China's history, Sun Yet-sen, who was instrumental in the overthrow of the monarchy that ruled China for over 2,000 years. The statue above is also the only statue of an American, who was a great supporter of Sun Yet-sen, Ruan Yan. The story is one of the most amazing ones, showing what one person can do to change a nation. The Republic of China was formed on 1 January 1912, and Sun Yet-sen simply pledged to support the people, and had fought many battles along the way, trying to keep the republic going until his untimely death in 1925 of Liver Cancer.
In this quite place, with a slower pace of life, I was able to retreat under the blue skies and palm trees, an oasis of time that I used to regain my spirit, find my inner muse and realize that the world will always be full of more than enough drama. It is very true that things happen and often in chaos and discord we seem to want to find a reason for things. We want them to remain the same, but they are always constants.
However, sometimes we need to ask ourselves how true the reflections are. Are you really seeing what you see, seeing what others want you to see, or seeing only what you want to see...or primarily just looking for the worst possible result...

With that thought held deeply in my mind...I thought again and began to see a different image in the reflection.