Tags
#WPLongform, Canberra, digital art, grass parrot, kangaroo, king parrot, mind stories, photography, telopea, travel, waratah, water dragon, wattle blossom, whining
Don’s photo of Canberra from Black Mountain
As promised, some more sharing of the inner journey. This latest contribution
From Don:
The beginning of our last full week in Canberra: time to eat right and stay healthy. We’re going to Julie and Robbie’s this morning to finish up the India planning. Then we might go to the Chemist Warehouse to get our toiletry supplies. What an exciting life we lead! I don’t understand why the mind continues to complain when nothing is wrong and it has next to nothing to do, but it does. The mind is almost never happy. This supposedly non-existent entity whines and complains and makes shit up just because it can. What can I do about the mind’s incessant whining and complaining? Stop believing that it matters or that it means anything.
So what’s on my mind today? It’s the bloody inconvenience of being on the road all the time. Of having none of the usual support systems that make life easier, apart from that most important of all support systems: The Mystery. I’m referring to having things available when I want them. I see an unusual bird while I’m out walking in the Australian bush and want to know what it is: there are two bird books right to hand where we’re housesitting for me to peruse. I know that I’m just whining here: with a little digging I can find whatever I need on that cornucopia of information, the Internet. In fact I can find pretty much everything I need in life on the Internet: a café to have a meal, a pharmacy to get some toiletries, the address of a hotel in Bangkok: it’s all on the Internet. So I don’t need reference books. It’s just the mind making stuff up again to cause dissatisfaction, and I almost got caught believing it. It’s the mind’s fault that I’m feeling bored. If it weren’t for the mind making up stories of dissatisfaction I would have nothing to complain about. All is well in my life, apart from my over focus on my health and my tendency to overindulge in foods and drinks that are not good for my system. All is well: Spring has sprung in Canberra, the days are fine and warm and I have all the time in the world to do whatever I want to do.
We’re getting ready for our next big leap on our never-ending journey: to India and then to Southeast Asia. Four and a half months of travelling around third world countries before we get a brief break back in Vancouver, and then we’re off again: to Mexico and then probably to Central America. Who knows what adventures we’ll have over the next two years? I need an attitude adjustment to get me back into travel mode so that I can once again appreciate what an opportunity we’ve been given to see the world and its wonders. What will it take to get me there? I don’t know: perhaps just bringing that awareness back into consciousness will be sufficient. We’ve been given a free pass to travel and see the world unencumbered by the usual trappings of a life: no work, no home, no car, and a minimum of belongings. The only apparent limitation comes in the form of stories created by the mind, and those are just that: stories created by the mind that I don’t need to believe. I can have the best time of my life or the worst time of my life, depending upon how much credence I give to the mind’s stories. Without the stories I have no problems. Okay, I feel better now, having gone through that process. This is how it goes for me: the mind makes up stories to cause dissatisfaction and every time it takes the time it takes for me to realize what’s going on, give my head a shake and change my attitude. One day I’ll stop falling into this familiar hole and walk around it instead.
From Alison
It’s springtime! The irises are in bloom.
And the wattle
And the waratah. The latin name is telopea something. I went to Telopea Park High School and this beautiful red flower was the emblem on our school blazer pocket.
We saw kangaroos in the Botanical Gardens: 
Mother and joey both grazing. See how the joey’s paws and tail are sticking out of the pouch.
And water dragons. They range in size from babies at about six inches, to big adults at about two feet. 
Grass parrot
King parrot
And to finish off – some before and after digital art:
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
We are in Delhi now. We arrived last night. We’re both very excited and happy to be travelling again and have had a fine time in our first explorations of the city. More in the next post.
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted.
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2015.
Adventures in Wonderland 
Yes, the mind can be very tricky. On the other hand, it is the source of the self-reflection and self-awareness which gave you two the courage to embark on this amazing adventure.
Looking forward to your India posts! Stay safe!
P.S. Also, how fabulous is Tessa’s Carmen? (couldn’t help myself :D)
LikeLike
Yes, the mind is not all bad by any means. It just requires some discernment as to which bits to pay attention to, and which bits to ignore.
Re Tessa’s Carmen – breathtaking! :swoon: (also love their SD)
LikeLike
Thanks for your journalizing, Don. I actually appreciate this sort of post more than the travel stories, though those are also fascinating.
I especially appreciate these two phrases/sentences in your, um, story about your mind and its stories:
– “I can have the best time of my life or the worst time of my life, depending upon how much credence I give to the mind’s stories. Without the stories I have no problems.”
– “This supposedly non-existent entity…makes shit up just because it can.”
Well, well, aren’t you making up the world and your experiences as you go along? Just because you can? Something created this reality for you. What part of you does that? Your mind? Or…?
And here’s a challenge for you as you explore your mind’s made-up shit: Who or what is making up THIS story about your mind making up stories? Perhaps instead of acknowledging and then trying to ignore the stories your mind is making up, would it be productive to explore the uber-layer of that — the fact that this whole thing about your mind making up stories is really just a story?
Just having fun with you here…. but going back to my beginning, I’ll say again, please keep posting your mind’s musings. It’s utterly fascinating to me.
LikeLike
It will say that this is from Alison, but it’s actually from Don:
Thanks for the thoughtful and stimulating comments Kate. The machinations of the mind have been a source of fascination and frustration for me for many years now. There’s still a lot of fuzziness in my thinking about the topic, but as best as I can explain it I am spirit having a co-creative adventure in a human body. The great creator of the whole ball of wax, from whom I am not separate as spirit, created this particular life form and set it in motion. The thoughts and ideas that come to me while I’m in this body seem to arise from two separate sources: the first being the downloads that come directly from the creator. These are the knowings that arise seemingly out of nowhere that have the ring of truth about them. The second type of thoughts and ideas is the stuff made up by the mind. In my understanding the mind was originally a useful secretary, an amanuensis that kept track of stuff that needed to be done, but somewhere along the way it came to see itself as the one that was tasked to be in charge of the life, and this scared the crap out of it, so it became what all fearful leaders become: a dictator that rules by scare tactics. The mind is a great secretary, but a terrible leader: a little Hitler.
For me there is a qualitative difference in the subjective experience of receiving direct guidance from the creator and getting fear messages from the mind. The experience I had throughout the spring and summer last year when I made the decision to quit work and go travelling was of receiving direct guidance from the creator. Even though there were many times when it felt scary to make a particular choice, I had enough confidence in that guidance to follow it. Time and time again that guidance proved to be reliable. On the other hand, there were also times when the mind tried to step in with fear stories, and these needed to be recognized for what they were so that I wasn’t stopped by them.
The mind is only trying to help to run my life, but it doesn’t have all the facts it needs to predict what steps are optimal, so it is always fearful of making the wrong choice. Therefore it tries to limit and control whatever I have been guided to do by making up fear stories.
Of course the whole experience of being in a human body is multidimensional hologram. We’re made up, the body is made up, the mind is made up (always!), and when the body drops we return to the source as spirit, and what the purpose of the whole thing is God knows! My facetious take is that God created it all to avoid the boredom of all eternity, though I must add that on the one occasion when I had what I believe to be a direct experience of what it feels like to be God, I was not bored in the least.
From Alison: Don’s comment re God creating “reality” to avoid boredom had me laughing out loud. On a more “serious” note I think “God” and “Creator” are the same thing and by definition the Creator creates. It can’t help itself.
LikeLike
Very cool. Admittedly I don’t experiment with digital tools for just creating pure art. I still want the tactile sensations of paint viscosity, its shine and seeing different threads of colour mix and congeal.
But yes, for you travelling you might need something more portable ..and less chemicals.
LikeLike
For travelling, yes, exactly. I just love the fun of playing with shapes and colour and with P’shop the permutations are endless. I also understand the joy of using paint, watching how it creates things you wouldn’t have even thought of. Fun.
LikeLike