Lisa Z. Lindahl

June 26, 2016

Magic, Octopuses & Butterflies

What do butterflies and octopuses have in common?

Magic. Magical cells & jumping genes. A natural ability to transform themselves. Personal alchemy!

photo by Lisa Lindahl Oh, don’t we all know about how caterpillars transform into butterflies. Yet the science behind it cannot obscure the magic of it. The actual cells responsible for the transformation of fuzzy creepy-crawly into winged flutterer are called “imaginal.” Imaginal cells. What a great name!

So these little biological units we call cells have genetic orders to morph themselves into whatever is needed to complete the butterfly design. Cast yourself into those inner workings:

“Hey, you! Yeah, you! Hairy cell! Now you’re gonna be a wing cell! Whaddaya mean, how? Look around in your files — somewhere in there are the directions! And be sure to coordinate with the other guys that used to be hair cells. Yeah, alla youse! Flatten out and fly straight, haha! Be sure to get your color specifics! Some of you are black, some might be orange. Have fun with it!”

Magic. Science. Genetic code. All words for the same miraculous phenomenon.
And now octopuses! With even neural cells that can rapidly change to whatever the whole organism is needing! Read this excerpt from The Nature Journal:

According to researchers from the University of Chicago, the octopus genome is enriched in transposons, commonly referred to as “jumping genes,” which can rearrange themselves on the genome. Even though their role in octopuses is unclear, researchers found elevated transposon expression in neural tissues. Transposons are known to have the ability to affect the regulation of gene expression and are believed to play major roles in shaping genome structure. (Source)

The headlines for such reports and articles are things like: “Octopuses Have Alien Genes” and such. Because, I guess, nowhere else are these jumping genes found.

Further (emphasis mine):

… the octopus genome turned out to be almost as large as a human’s and to contain a greater number of protein-coding genes — some 33,000, compared with fewer than 25,000 in Homo sapiens.

This excess results mostly from the expansion of a few specific gene families… One of the most remarkable gene groups is the protocadherins, which regulate the development of neurons and the short-range interactions between them. The octopus has 168 of these genes — more than twice as many as mammals. This resonates with the creature’s unusually large brain and the organ’s even-stranger anatomy. Of the octopus’s half a billion neurons — six times the number in a mouse — two-thirds spill out from its head through its arms, without the involvement of long-range fibres such as those in vertebrate spinal cords. The independent computing power of the arms, which can execute cognitive tasks even when dismembered, have made octopuses an object of study for neurobiologists … and for roboticists who are collaborating on the development of soft, flexible robots. (from www.nature.com)

Okay, a lot of verbiage, but I mean, really! How amazing is that! Is all of this! I don’t think I will ever eat calamari again! (These genes are found in squid and cuttlefish as well).

I’ve always liked butterflies. Now I think I’m falling in love with octopuses (not, octopi, I’ve been corrected!)

PS Related reading: The Butterfly Story by Norie Huddle

June 19, 2016

Summer Solstice 2016

photo by Lisa Z Lindahl Longest day of the year, shortest night. This celestial phenomenon has always held significance for humanity:

In ancient Greece the summer solstice was the first day of the new year. The ancient Chinese honored earth and femininity — the yin — on the summer solstice. Many old European cultures had large bonfires around which the community would gather, something we still tend to do today.

This year we have the added intrigue and interest of a full moon on the Summer Solstice. Evidently, the last time this occurred was in 1967! So our sky will be be light and bright for a long time on June 20th!

Solstice has held a fascination for me, both winter and summer. I cannot say why. They seem to be a rather magical time of year; perhaps the veil between worlds is a bit thinner, or clearer. Perhaps harmony is easier to strike. Whatever the reason, I am wishing you a very

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE

photo by Lisa Lindahl

With love,

Lisa

June 12, 2016

Once Upon A Fraud

My mother, in her wisdom, would intone:

“Horses sweat, men perspire, women glow.”

Give me a bathing suit and point me towards ocean surf. No boards please. That was, still is, my idea of being “active.” But in my mid-twenties, living in Vermont, there was no ocean nearby. I started jogging, and found my land-based equivalent of active joy.

My running never grew into a desire to compete. Rather, running connected me to the natural world – put me back into it and became, frankly, one of my first spiritual practices. It is totally ironic that this practice spawned my financial success and exposure to the grit of the business world.

The deeper irony is that for me to start running at all was out of character, at least historically speaking. While I remember enjoying recess and dodge ball in elementary grades, by the middle grades at the girls’ school I attended I was self-conscious and uncomfortable in gym classes. Perhaps many girls were; my best friend was. But then there were those “jock” girls who relished gym and understood the rules of field hockey and were eager to get out on the tennis courts. They intimidated me. It seemed to me I was somehow less for not getting the whole sporty thing. When possible, I opted for Beginning Bowling as my gym class choice.

I didn’t like to glow.

So avoiding gym classes, playing around in the summertime ocean, doing some body surfing, and climbing the occasional tree was my idea of “sports.”

Until I discovered the meditation of running. Then my world did change. My body and I became more intimate. We glowed, we sweated, we gloried. When I started running I tried to jog around an indoor track – a whole quarter mile. And it was tough! The day I actually made it all the way around I felt like I’d won an Olympic medal! I was so proud of myself! When I eventually settled into a 30 mile a week routine over Vermont trails and back roads, well, I’d found not my sport, but my practice.

Fast forward a few years and many logged miles to my invention of the sports bra and creation of a business around it. Because I was clear that the Jogbra was athleltic equipment, not lingerie, we were selling it in sporting goods stores around the nation.

Sporting goods stores!?

Before taking my bra into such places to sell it, I had never been in one ’til I had to buy running shoes. And then I didn’t hang around. Heck, all I needed to do my thing was shoes and, yes, a comfortable bra. The sporting goods industry was as foreign and intimidating to the woman I had become as those long ago gym classes were to my girlhood self. But even more so. To me sporting goods stores were rank with the culture of competition; everytime I went into one I felt I was in a totally alien environment. Yet I smiled and played the part. And I sold sports bras.

One day, back in 1988 or so, I found myself at a very large national sporting goods show. My little company was quite successful by then. I recall walking around the noisy, people-filled convention center. The aisles were lined with booths aggressively selling everything from athletic clothing to fishing rods, from dart boards to health drinks. Every athletic shoe manufacturer was there. The place was a bustling mosaic of color, people and commerce.

And I wondered: How the hell had I ended up here? I felt a complete fraud, with little in common with all these enthusiastic jocks and jock-ettes. The choices that brought me here mostly made sense at the time, and in many ways still stood the test of time. But…?

The ironies were not lost on me. They are not lost on me still. One of the most authentic aspects of my self, the meditative runner, had spawned this persona of sporting goods queen. Bra Lady. And it follows me to this day.

The further irony is that I can no longer be that runner. Both my knees blew out. I’ve found no activity – not bowling or body surfing – that fulfills me as running did. I miss it to this day.

But I no longer feel a fraud. Years ago I read an article, in Psychology Today I think, that purported that many who gain rapid success feel “like a fraud;” that somehow they are pulling off an illusion that could be “found out” by others. I know I felt that way – I wasn’t a jock! Then, after a bit I wasn’t even a runner anymore! Egad!

The article made sense to me, explained and alleviated my secret guilt. Eventually I left the sporting goods industry; having launched the sports bra I was done. The altruistic young entrepreneur evolved. I am still learning how to accept and integrate all the disparate bits of my ever-evolving self: artist, businesswoman, spiritual seeker, and bumbling, glowing journeyer.

May 29, 2016

From the Journals of…

Insights, quotes and wisdom notes from my travels, jotted down at those times and in those places follow, rather higgeldy-piggeldy and not in any organized order:

PERFECTION IS ILLUSION & DELUSION; BUT WE CAN STRIVE FOR WHOLENESS.

Ritual is setting intention

“The Priest/Priestess is the midwife of Grace” ~ Matthew Fox

We are the imaginal cells of the dying paradigm!

Shadow follows wherever you go; the greater your light, the greater your shadow.

True Beauty is eternal and the raison d’être of the Universe.

When our ego is in charge it is prepared to be offended; when the soul is predominant it is prepared to be amazed! ~paraphrasing Dr. David Simon

Laughter is the same in every language.

We are balanced turbulence. ~ Brian Swimme

Walk like a Goddess.

A life of expression is healing. Healing is an expression of life.

Laughter like liquid vibrational light smiles all over the beach. Dear Dark, are you co-dependent?

Looking back in old notebooks and journals is always a journey in itself. The above are mostly old friends, but I did encounter an acquaintance or two I’d forgotten about and was happy to rediscover!

May 22, 2016

Wandering Eye

I’ve been traveling a bit lately. Did I write that already? My head, heart and vision have been mightily exercised.

It was wisteria time in SC when I left:

And my lemon tree was blooming, smelling so luscious

But I left to go to an art workshop in Vermont…

…where friends find springtime gardening a bit rough:

After a productive week in Vermont I came home briefly before flying off to L.A., or LaLa Land for a brief two days. Was shooting a small documentary for ESPN on the history of the Sports Bra, no less. A shot of LA’s sunset:

Then back home before heading up to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley for a Shamanic Retreat. Such fabulous natural beauty, different from SC. Although similar to Vermont with its mountains and deciduous forests, it has a quite different feel, a different spirit. It seems somehow gentler…

Two of my companions wading in the Rapidan River. I followed shortly thereafter…

I learned a great deal on each leg of my travels… I find that the body may be aging, but this mind is as curious and inquiring as ever. It was simply the devilish goddess of scheduling that caused all these

events to converge within such a short time span (and not done yet, actually). Ideally I’d choose to have months after each one to integrate the teachings, my observations, any new techniques, any “homework.” I’m that sort. Ah, well! But I’m not complaining! Far from it, really! I am amazed and feel blessed to have all such explorations and opportunities on my plate.

And/but yes:

It’s nice to go home and be greeted by my loved ones…

Home again, home again, jiggety, jig!

May 15, 2016

Tomato Grace

From a near-by correspondent:

This week I have my first ripe heirloom tomato. In march, the unlikely plants emerged from a weed filled box in my greenhouse. They must have grown from seeds I saved last season and in an obviously foolhardy act, like someone buying a lottery ticket, I cast them into the dirt. I may as well have planted redwoods. I knew better. All those years of pouring hope and fertilizer onto Lowe’s bought plants with visions of that perfect mid summer BLT, only to experience another failed harvest. Growing tomatoes in South Carolina is a valuable primer on life.
But for the grace of mother nature and that leak in my ceiling, I am rewarded with one meager tomato and one great lesson. This is a thing of wonder and beauty.

Ah. Fabulous!

I must rush to say, however, that the accompanying photo here is not my correspondent’s excellent and rare single heirloom. No, these two are simple market-boughts from last summer. But beautiful enough to have caught my camera’s eye. A bit more, uh, Tomato Grace?

April 24, 2016

Fame

Been thinking about fame, actually the concept of “fame.”

I’ve never read what others have written about fame, think about it. Have philosophers delved into it? If those “old dead white guys” have, it is certainly not with all the nuances that today’s technological culture brings with it. And brings to media, communications and the creation of

FAME. I define it as the public’s recognition of one’s achievement(s) in the public forums. So historically speaking that makes Edison, Elvis Presley, Michaelangelo, Alfred Hitchcock, Louis XVI — all famous, to name just a few. Some were even recognized in their own time! I say this pointedly as too often it takes death to confer the mantle of worth and fame, especially on artists. This is a reflection of the doctrine of scarcity: now that the maker can no longer make her products they become more desireable, of greater worth. But I digress.

There seems to be a taint to fame these days; a cheapening. It has lost some of its dignity, its luster. Rock stars and movie celebrities are famous. Politicians can become famous, especially when involved in a sex or money scandal. Ah! But I am wrong. The last is not fame. Remember the concept of infamy? When one becomes famous for doing something nefarious or scandalous or both? Then one is infamous, not famous.

It seems to me the importance of that distinction has been a bit lost of late.

What is the point of fame, or being perceived as famous? Fame exists in a broad spectrum, doesn’t it? There is the local Little League star, the winner of the Pumpkin Festival, and the State’s beauty queen. We go to rock concerts, symphonies and museums to see well-known — “famous”– artists. We can be passionate about and cheer national sports figures and war heroes. We have scientific geniuses and technology gurus who become our heroes and heroines. Well known, famous for their contributions to society.

Then there are those who seek fame for just fame’s sake. I don’t get this; fame junkies must be really whacked, just very insecure; have hungry egos. Why need the attention and admiration of masses of strangers? There’s no nutrition there, it’s pure junk food for the soul.

On the very very other hand, there are those who have overcome difficult and obstinate obstacles in their striving to become/achieve/defend. These ones often are not thinking about becoming famous or seeking any recognition, but simply determined to look at and solve the problems in front of them, come hell or high water, so to speak. They gain public admiration and fame, sometimes to their own surprise. Think Helen Keller, the Grimke sisters, Stephen Hawking.

I think the best thing about the notion of “fame” is that it confers a sense that a contribution to society has been made that inspires others; a road map… the individual (or group) responsible for the achievement is a role model for the rest of us. An inspiration.

So, at its most positive, fame’s purpose can be said to be to promote inspiration.

Other than that…fame is just a form of Viagra for the Ego.

And that is certainly not of True Beauty.

April 17, 2016

Whoopsies of this Life

So a lot has been going on.

Life has a way of creating cycles: months of humdrum and habits — sometimes soothing, sometimes boring. And then sudden huge waves of change, happenings, things you can’t say no to. Some things you have no opportunity to say no to; death is one of those.

So I’ve been juggling a few things; traveling a great deal, across the country, up the coast and down the coast and back again…and again.

One of the changes occurring during this time is switching where this blog lives, it’s host or whatever. A simple task you would think. Not so. The process, much more tedious and long than it should have been, is the reason I haven’t been able to post recently and the reason my more recent posts seem to have disappeared! Whoopsie!

Ah, I love technology! You can find the post “Spring” on our FB page “The Way of Beauty”.

And speaking of whoops!, a reader pointed out to me that nowhere on this blog page do I make it clear that what I am writing about is TRUE BEAUTY. That is a major whoops. The whole reason for this blog is to make a pitch about the importance of ditching what passes for “beauty” these days and reclaiming TRUE BEAUTY! (See the post “A Manifesto for True Beauty” waaaay back in the beginning). Well, and to make way for my book about it, coming soon…

So, whoops, I gotta change the masthead, or whatever its called here, to make it clear what I (mostly) go on about: deep, true Beauty and its importance in our global harmony.

So, change is good. We must perceive it as such as it is, after all, the only constant!

Ah, yeah…a lot of stuff going on! And whoopsies are only to be expected…

March 13, 2016

Havingness

Here’s a term I picked up along the way and made my own: Havingness. I define it as the ability to have; to take ownership — easily and comfortably.

While one can be in possession of a thing, experience an emotion, or hold a particular attitude — indeed “have” these — this is not quite the same as what I mean when referring to “havingness.” Havingness is that state of being in a person which allows him/herself to graciously take ownership of whatever comes, but with a specific connotation of plentitude.

Havingness is a state of being. It is that state which embraces life, experiences, people and is infused with an expectation of abundance. (Note: expectation, not entitlement!)

And let me make something very clear: conspicuous consumption — visible bragging through the excessive and obvious acquisition of things — is not a form of havingness, or what I mean in any way, shape or form. I believe the behavior known as conspicuous consumption is an outcropping of insecurity and a misunderstanding or ignorance of the usefulness of material wealth. Frankly, its manifestation is distasteful to me on several levels. In fact, I’d guess that those who engage in conspicuous consumption are actually not compensating for their lack of having stuff, but for their lack of having a sense of havingness.

I hope this doesn’t all sound like confusing gobbledy-gook.

Generousity is born of havingness. A child who has one apple and cuts it in two to give half to an apple-less friend has a sense of havingness. The child who has a whole basket of fruit and will give none away has no havingness. Another way to articulate this is to say that the first child unthinkingly assumes abundance in her life — probably more apples in the future — while the second child assumes a future of scarcity. She must hoard her fruit for the feared apple-less future.

And so what? Why does this matter? Why think about it?

One reason is that these days many think about living “responsibly.” Recently I heard about a trend towards “Minimalism” — living with less, or even the least possible. Is this a good thing? Is it somehow more noble? As well as being a uniquely First World question, I think there is a question of age appropriateness in that question somewhere. Different cycles in life have different needs and levels of need. If you are 20 and childless, minimalism may be a good thing. Or at 70 with an empty nest and a desire for the end of never-ending house maintenance, minimalism may be a great solution. But these days a family with children, aging parents and/or/as well as hectic work schedules can make the minimalistic life-style seem like an absurdist joke. “Subjective Minimalism” perhaps can become a thing. I dunno, maybe it already is.

All of which brings me back to havingness. Those who are without an ability to have, when having comes their way, are fearfully over planning, over consuming and too often sabotaging life’s synchronicities and blessings. It is my experience that a true sense of havingness will direct one to that comfortable and appropriate level of not just materialism, but also of community, convenience, spiritual involvement and a general sense of balance in one’s life.

photo by lisa z lindahl

March 6, 2016

The Ocean’s Rorschach Test

A new twist in our Gallery of Seeing…

The Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) devised the infamous “ink-blot tests.” Using a standard set of inkblots, they were used as a test to reveal one’s personality depending upon what one saw in each blot.

Well, I think it’s more fun to look at the patterns left by the ocean…and see what I see there.