Kat Eye Studio

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Photo-Heart Connection: May

What’s behind this door? It must be something important, to have had so many locks on it. It must have been there a long time, to have so many scars.

I know what’s behind this door. It’s a piece of my heart. As much as I’ve allowed my heart to open over the last few years, there is a piece that has remained locked up. Even while the paint has cracked and the door begins to splinter, I keep putting new bars and locks on it. I don’t want it to be unlocked. It will hurt to open what’s inside.

This last door to my heart has to be unlocked. I know it does.

And I’m scared of what’s going to come out. So scared. Maybe the locks all this time haven’t been to protect what’s on the inside, but to protect what’s on the outside.

It’s time to face it, and see what happens. Ready or not, the lock is coming off.

My heart’s message this month cuts to the truth of things in a personal and painful way. When I captured this image last Saturday in Portland, I was interested in the history of that door. So many layers, so many scars. It’s story intrigued me. It wasn’t until I sat down to find my Photo-Heart Connection this month that I discovered the deeper message for me. There are some things that I need to work through. It is time to face them. I feel as if I’m squaring my shoulders and filling myself with fortitude as I reach for the lock this morning.

What is your heart’s message this month? There is one there for you, if you take the time to look. Sit quietly for a little while, clear your mind, then look through your images from May one by one. Is there one that you feel a reaction to in your body? Sit with it for a while, see what it has to say to you. Then write about it, and come back here to link in. We’re here to support and encourage you to listen to your heart, whatever the message.

The Photo-Heart Connection link up for May is open from June 1 to June 7. I look forward to visiting you soon! I’ll be away from the computer the next couple of days but will be by to visit your posts on Sunday. I’ll also be moderating links this month, so please be sure you are following the guidelines, found here.


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Blown Away in the Photo-Heart Connection

Today is the last day to link in to the April Photo-Heart Connection. There is still time for you to join in! If nothing else, spend some time visiting the participants. As always, I am blown away by what is shared through this process. I thank all of you who participate!

Today I’m sharing my “runner up” Photo-Heart Connection from April. It was really hard to choose my final photo this last month. I don’t know if it was because I had so many, or I had a lot of other things on my mind, but it was hard to sort out the message from my heart.

I got it down to two: This one and the laughing Buddhas. I couldn’t decide. So I left it for a little while and went off to do other things. When I was engaged elsewhere the whole message of “Lighten up; life’s not so serious” came to me. It was then I knew the laughing Buddha photo was the one.

This photo has a message for me too, or it wouldn’t have been in my top two. It just wasn’t the right time for me to hear it. I’m sure it will come to me on some other day and time when the Photo-Heart Connection is the last thing on my mind.

I’m reminded of my little mantra:
My photos will show me the way. They always do.

Pretty darn amazing, isn’t it?

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Photo-Heart Connection: April

Hey there Buddha, are you laughing at me or laughing with me?

No matter which, you seem to be saying, “Lighten up, Kat. Life’s not so serious. Laugh a little.”

Laughter is a good thing. Laughing at myself is one of the best things I’ve learned to do. When I get all serious and wrapped up in something, if I can take a step back and really look at it, I often see how absurd it all is. I laugh.

I didn’t learn this from myself, or some great spiritual teacher like Buddha. I learned it from a coworker who laughs at everything. He laughs at himself, he laughs at others, he laughs at nothing. A big, booming laugh. There is nothing malicious to it, just contagious. You can’t help but join in. And when the laughter starts from some little quirkiness of mine, well, all the better to show me how silly I sound.

Maybe laughter is the best medicine. I know that I have learned more perspective from learning to laugh at myself than almost anything else.

Lighten up, Kat. Life’s not so serious.

Apparently I was in need of some laughter and happiness today! These laughing Buddhas make me smile, but the idea that they have a message for me is even better. I feel lighter for writing this today. No deep or serious message for me today – just laughter. Thanks, Buddha.

What have you found in your Photo-Heart Connection for April? Deep messages, calming thoughts, or maybe some light hearted fun? Your heart knows what you need, and your photos help you make that connection. It’s always fun to see what emerges. I look forward to seeing yours!


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Tomorrow’s the Day!

The Photo-Heart Connection link up for April opens tomorrow! Plan some time to revisit your photos from April, to find your heart connection. I wonder what my heart connection will be this month… will it be an image like this, from Korkula? A city scene from San Francisco? I never know until I go through the process. You and I will both find out tomorrow!

If you haven’t participated before, all are welcome. You can join in once or every month – no expectations or commitments.

To participate, follow these easy steps:

  1. Choose your Photo. Review the photos you worked with in the last month, either new or archive, and find the one with the strongest connection to your heart. Not sure how? Read here.
  2. Write from your heart. Looking at this photo, start to write. See what comes from your heart. There is a message in the image for you, if you open yourself to it.
  3. Share online. Pair your photo and words somewhere online where others can read it, and learn from your experience.
  4. Link in. Visit my blog between the 1st and 7th of the month to link in your Photo-Heart Connection. Connect with other participants by visiting the links.

You will find a great community of kindred spirits, waiting to meet you in the Photo-Heart Connection. See you tomorrow!

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Photo-Heart Connection: March

I closed my eyes and asked: What does my heart have to say to me today?

My heart chose this photo.

A note found amongst the back alley texture and grunge. I was here, someone whispered through the handprints on the wall, Do you see me?

Yes, I answer, I see you. I document the moment with my camera. Arranging the shapes and lines and acknowledging the mark that someone else left. Perhaps some see the marks as defacing private property, but today I see a call for acknowledgement. See me, the handprints say.

How much, do I pass through my day, without seeing? How many people do I walk by, without acknowledging? It is easy for me to get focused, and miss the world around me. Miss the people who pass me every day.

See me, they whisper. I will try harder, I promise.

As I look for the Photo-Heart Connection, I am finding the message my photographs unlock inside of me depends on the day. I wrote from the heart with this same photograph earlier in the month, and the message was completely different.

I’m realizing that the process I am following to find my Photo-Heart Connection is not about the photos at all. It’s about opening the door to my heart, maybe just a crack, and seeing what comes out. The photos are the means, the conduit, to an end: The message from my heart.

What do you find your heart has to say this month? Share your Photo-Heart Connections below. The link up will be open from April 1 through 7.


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Photo-Heart Connection Feature: Brenda

I’m counting down to the next Photo-Heart Connection with a week of features from participants in January and February. These connections touched my heart, and it is with gratitude that I share them with you. Have you tried to find a Photo-Heart Connection yet? The March link up opens tomorrow!

“Who are you?” asks the graffiti artist.

What would be your answer?

Would it be the list of labels that describe your important relationships? Wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, aunt, cousin, niece, friend? Would it be in terms of your education and career? Straight-A student, college graduate, systems analyst, graphic designer, retiree?

I have never been a person blessed with great self-awareness. At age 55, you would think I would have a ready answer to this simple query.

And yet – this question, scrawled in red paint on weathered wood, abandoned to weather and rust, pulled me up short.

Who am I?

I have been given a great gift – retirement at an early age. And with that gift, I now have the time to pursue my life, within certain financial restraints, in a way that makes me happy.

Am I making the most of that gift? Am I using this time to truly learn who I am, what makes me happy, what makes my heart sing?

Or am I filling my life with busy-ness which only distracts me from being here in the moment, discovering the true me? The me without labels, without agendas, the me in the here and now?

I do know that photography is critical in connecting to who I am and who I want to be. My guide on this journey to self-awareness.

Helping me ask the right questions. Teaching me to listen for the answers.

Searching for “me”; connecting to my heart.

— By Brenda of How to Feather an Empty Nest