Ordinariness
A second hummingbird photo to bring here for you. Like the last photo, this one was taken in Costa Rica. This photo talks to me about being warm, about sunshine, about summer. It has been quite cool and cloudy with more rain than is normal. For a typical prairie summer, we have had more than 400% the normal rainfall – more than four inches in the last week alone. The gray skies and the frequent showers limit the walks through the countryside and do not provide good light for photography.
Today I am supposed to get my new camera so I imagine that regardless of the gray skies, I will be out taking photos to learn the feel and the capabilities of the new camera. I have to admit that I am excited about the new camera. I also bought a book by Tom Ang on photography as I will likely have time to study the art more in the university year to come while I am in China.
In less than two weeks I will be back in my apartment in Changzhou, Jiangsu, P.R.C., back to a work week of sixteen hours in classrooms filled to the brim with young twenty somethings who are filled with dreams of perfect lives, perfect loves and enough wealth to make these dreams a reality. The university is a place of charged energy and I am valued for the gifts I bring to the craft of teaching at the university. This will be my thirty-third year practicing the art of teaching. For those that want to follow my “Teacher in China” blog, click here to link to Laowai Lens.
In case you are wondering, I will be continuing to post here at Jungian Lens almost daily. I have already packed eight books by Jung and post-Jungian writers. I have also packed my Chinese dictionary and a few calligraphy brushes as I will be working on learning Mandarin with better focus this year.
Looking back at this post, I am surprised at how I have left out almost all reference to Jungian psychology in what could be seen as a celebration of ordinary things. And in realising this, a smile comes to my face as I know that this is an important psychological process – making room for the hodge-podge, the méli mélo of life.
