The Secret Lives of People We Know: the urban garden walk.

This last weekend was intense!

Everything we here at ShadowCatcher had been working on kind of came to a climax with the raising of Ginny Ruffner's new Urban Flower Pot sculpture, planted on the downtown Seattle corner of 7th and Union.

We arrived there at 6 o'clock as the sun came up to look at the gray and deserted downtown corridor.

I didn't know what to expect. From the time that I began working at ShadowCatcher we had been following the progress of this massive structure and seen all the work in progress and bits and pieces that would soon become the final product. But no one, not even the fabricators that made the sculpture, knew what it would finally look like all together.

However, as the flower pot came to rest on its final pedestal and was bolted, its contrasting bright brown fighting against the ever gray corner... I could already sense that it was going to be pretty magnificent.

As the pieces trailed in, one after another, I only liked it more and more.

Sure, I love the more dark and shocking art pieces, but Ginny's flower pot was accessible and interesting. Just the bold colors against a city of pastel was a welcoming and endearing. Like a giant piece of Dr. Suess transplanted into the everyday.

Magnificent, however, is something that is subjective.
Hanging out in a world that is so obvious to me, I forget how others might perceive it.

I was taken aback by the attack statements that I later read on The Seattle Times' coverage of the event.

My first reaction was that these people were hilarious and kind of ignorant to make such sweeping negative statements, especially from my standpoint, as I had seen the sweat and hard work that each individual person had put into this.. not to mention the private dollars that got poured into the economy for this piece.

But.. then I thought about it again. Is this how these people actually live their life? Is that how they see art? I mean, art is not necessary to life, but without art..... life wouldn't be worth living.. in my opinion.

If everyone took this attitude...... I shutter to think. What would this world be like?

Are there people out there that are that soul-less?

I know that sounds harsh. But it just seemed to me that if you lived in life long enough you wouldn't be able to stand being so resistant, so shut off it what it has to offer for so long.

Awareness has become so big in my life.

When I was younger, I couldn't stand listening choral music or classical symphonic music. It was SO long... so drawn out. Get TO THE POINT already.

In my world of plug in and tune out, I was always itching to move on to the next thing.

But then a thought struck me.What did I have to do that was any better?
Would getting back to my computer to surf the internet really enrich my life anymore? Did I really experience life through the block of lights coming from my TV?
Why was I so anxious to be entertained every moment of the day?

I was at a particular choral concert at the time of this epiphany, and I remember very clearly retuning my mind, like adjusting a pair of TV rabbit ears.

I stopped internally fidgeting and let the white noise of my over stimulated mind simmer down to nothing.

Living in the moment... I forced myself to savor each note. And suddenly!! I started noticing things... subtle and amazing harmonies started to pop out at me.
Notes hung in the air and riveted me to my seat. I didn't think about what I could be doing...
I only thought about how glorious this moment was ... right...now.

Life in the past had been full of over-expectations.
I felt entitled to pure euphoria and bliss.. or at least the high that movies, games... TV gave me..
(Things that I didn't know about at the time probably would have fit into this category too: drinking, drugs... sex.)

But as soon as my awareness rose, it honed my ability to live in the moment. Notice all the amazing things I had been taking for granted that surrounded me ....Suddenly, every moment became glorious!!

I do like the Urban Flower Pot! Quite a bit. But when I look at it, my subjective taste melts away. Instead, my awareness hones in on all the details that surround it. All the glorious curiosities that make it up and all the people represented in the work. That is what makes it magnificent.

My over-expectant life, as well as my rule suffocated bubble, were hell, bound by what fate threw my way or by what "the rules" forced me to value. It left me with a feeling and sense of overwhelming unfairness that the world had burdened me with.

My new life has freed me to see that every moment is as amazing as what you can discover inside of it. Attuned awareness will yield value in every person, place and situation.
Added and subtle value that will make life seem full, steady and content and the true people in your life invaluable.
Which is much better and stronger than hazy, self-consumed euphoria.

So cheers to Ginny Ruffner and her Urban Flower Pot for reminding me of all these moments. To humble me in the light of so much potential goodness out there. The adventure of all the artists and work I will soon discover and all the potentially amazing people and places that I am waiting to meet.

here are just a few of my recent moments captured: