{a photo project honoring radiance, one of my words for 2012 :: 52 photos that represent radiance, 52 photos that represent luminosity.}

you know what's funny? i spent part of a sunny afternoon taking pictures specifically for this project and the photo for radiance is not one of those photos.

i hung a crystal in my window this week to reflect the winter sunlight around the living room and i was taking photos of that for my project. when i was done, i took a few photos of the daisy just for fun.

when i went through my photos to find the perfect crystal photo, this daisy photo raised its hand and said, "me, me, me!" it turns out it was absolutely perfect.

{a photo project honoring radiance, one of my words for 2012 :: 52 photos that represent radiance, 52 photos that represent luminosity.}

my words for 2012 are power and radiance.

well, they weren't exactly my words. i wanted to choose flow.

but then, back in november – when i realized that i was going to have to learn to dance with the light – power and radiance presented themselves.

when i say power, what i mean is something very much like wholeness. it is the power that comes from honoring and integrating all of me: body, mind, and spirit.

when i say radiance, what i mean is something very much like luminosity. it is not so much radiating outward as it is finding (or recognizing and owning) the instrinsic lightness inside of me.

i knew in november that that was my work for 2012, so i thought wholeness and luminosity would be my words for 2012.

as you can see, they are not. my sense at the end of the year was that there is something important about the words power and radiance, and that i need to use those words, even if what i mean when i say them seems more like wholeness and luminosity.

i was also puzzled about my photo project.

i was excited about a year with luminosity but, when i decided to use the word radiance, i figured that i would have to spend a year with radiance instead. (i am working with power through my body and physical strength.)

when i took my photo on thursday, i still hadn't decided, so i took two photos.

but then, when i was drinking tea out of my favorite mug – it has a sun on one side and a moon on the other – i realized that i could do both. radiance and luminosity seem like two facets of radiance, so it fits perfectly.

(part of me thinks that i have clearly not thought this through at all and i am going to be very sorry. the other part of me thinks that this will be fun. after all, i do love matchmaking, and i am always up for a challenge. plus, is "the dawning of the light" not the best photo project title ever?! it's so much better than a title with just radiance or just luminosity could ever be.)

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

i cannot think of a more perfect way for me to celebrate 2011 than with a final trust photo.

when i look at this image, i see a girl dancing. quietly and slowly and softly, but with more trust in herself, and with an even greater sense of connection to the magic and mystery that surrounds us.

i am full of gratitude and apprecation for what my year with trust has given me.

happy merry new year, everyone! may your 2012 be full of daydreams, daisies, and more delight than you can even imagine.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

frost-covered grasses, sparkling in the cold winter sunshine.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

after a year of looking for trust, i must say that i will never again see most of nature without being reminded of it, especially – for some reason – grasses.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

a dear friend gave me a magnet with the following sharon salzberg quote:

"Life is like an ever shifting kaleidoscope: a slight change and all patterns alter."

i love that quote. it makes me feel hopeful. it reminds me that everything i do in the big wide world of working on my stuff on has an impact on my life – no matter how small a thing it is, no matter if i can see how it will happen.

when i saw this scene/photo, it reminded me of that quote, and somehow, it all circled back to trust.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

this photo represents trust for a few reasons.

one: i do love my home. i feel safe there. safe to be, safe to be me. i've been thinking about the people who will live in this apartment after i leave, whenever that is, and how they are so lucky because they will be getting a space that will be full of the most amazing energy.

two: for a long while now, i've been idly wondering how to bring more light into my living room. a few weeks ago, i had a vision of a canopy of twinkle lights. oh my goodness, the vision was beautiful. as is usual, the vision looked slightly different in my head (slightly more magical, i must confess) than it did in reality – it might need a few more tweaks before i am done – but the lights definitely add even more warmth and coziness to the long dark evenings.

three: i am trusting that time and energy spent on this project is not a distraction from the millions of other projects i could be working on in each moment – that working on it is helping with everything else i do, even if i cannot see how just yet.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

i think my year of trust has ended. really, it's been done for a while now.

not that the year has ended, or that i don't care about trust anymore, or that i am always full of trust, or that i am ending my photo project early.

it's not even that things have significantly changed in my external world since the beginning of the year.

it's more that something has shifted in me.

there is a sense of trust in me that wasn't there before. there are moments when i lose it, of course, but i always circle back again.

it feels really good.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

this image reminds me of trust for a few reasons, one of which is that in order to take the photo, i had to trust that i had enough balance to dangle over a ledge while holding my camera below me while trying to take a photo and not drop my camera and not let the strap fall into the water.

i managed. barely.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

can you see the teeny-tiny raindrop?