The Masks We Wear

We all wear masks at different times — put on a persona to fit into a situation or to fit in with a group of people.
The Funny One.
The Demure One.
The Ditsy One.
The Self-Assured One.
The Sexy One.
The Attention Seeker full of drama. Whether the attention is positive or negative isn’t important.
Or the I’m Just the Girl Next Door who happened to become famous.
Are you The Powerful One?
The Outrageous One?
Whichever mask you choose at any given time, make sure you remember to take it off because your real self is what this life is all about.
The truth of who you are, stripped clean, is the you God sees and loves. The unmasked you is perfect as is.

Photos © Sondra Sula taken at World’s Greatest Wax Museum/Madame Tussauds Hollywood.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Parameters

Every small town has its charm.
Thermopolis has several,
one of which is the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.
I see fossils and bones every day
inside our home and in the retail shop where my husband and I both work.
What interests me in natural history museums are models.
In large part because they are made by artists.
Artists who are forced to be creative within strict parameters.
How can I be creative, spiritually and otherwise, within the parameters of my present-day life?
What must I do to find my joy?

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Conflict

I’m a Quaker.
Quakers are well known as conscientious objectors in war.
I personally believe that anyone who has ever been advertently or inadvertently involved in war on any side,
soldier or civilian,
is injured.
Scarred in some way. Scars seen or unseen.
Wounded in ways of which they are aware
or unaware.
Wars are often started over access to resources,
retaliation for perceived insults
or due to individual desires for power, wealth, adoration.
Is peace the absence of malice, greed and ego?
If I diminish conflict within my own heart — within my own circle of relationships — will that have a ripple effect?
My hope is: Yes.

Photos © Sondra Sula and taken at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, Wyoming.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

The Larry Spring Effect

I take joy in creating.
But so does everyone else who allows their imagination to roam,
including Larry Spring who couldn’t pass a piece of driftwood or a dried seed pod without turning it into a creature — literally.
Making stuff brings us into a state of focus — a lot like meditation.
When we see “into” an object —
beyond its surface —
we often add meaning to it.
The process is exciting, yet can also be contemplative.
Walking into a place like the Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics
inspires my own sense of creativity,
which brings me just a little bit closer to my Creator.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Fantastical Feast

Holidays are times when loved ones gather around all kinds of tables eating all manner of foods — traditional, experimental, nostalgic, symbolic.
But there’s something a bit suspicious about this feast.
The eggs look a little too shiny,
the Swiss cheese and ham a bit stiff,
and why isn’t the butter melting?
It could be because I’m at the Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg, California, where “breaking bread” is done with a masonry saw 
and eating after-dinner pie will require an emergency dental visit. 
That’s because all the food is made of stone. So count your blessings when you sit down to your fantastical feast this year. At least it’s edible!

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

What Do You Do?

What do you do
when the weight of the world
feels too heavy to bear?
Cry out?
Dig in?
Shop
to distract yourself?
Drive away
to somewhere desolate,
beautiful,
lonely
or mysterious?
Stay in a motel for the night and lose yourself in the bedspread’s pattern?
Look for permanence through fossils,
ancient objects
or solid cement statuary that won’t easily disintegrate?
Amuse yourself with strange creatures
and odd juxtapositions?
When there’s no more room for anger,
let peace rain down softly from the trees. Peace and light.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Enjoying the Eternal Now

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum seems like a surprise —an oasis in the desert — because it is located on a desolate, dusty road between Tucson and Saguaro National Park. A friend had told my husband and me that it was a small county museum with some nice mineral specimens.
But the parking lot was huge and it was then we thought something was amiss. Why so many parking spaces for a dinky museum?
The entry fee seemed a little off base, too. A bit expensive for our wallets, but we thought, what the heck — we’re on vacation, right?
The first thing we encountered was an aquarium filled with garden eels — a marvel of creation. Simply watching them was worth the price of admission. Over a year ago I had seen a news story about this species of eel in captivity and how lonely and agitated they became during the pandemic because they missed human faces gawking at them. Imagine! Once monitors were set up in front of the glass featuring live feeds of people staring and waving, the eels settled back down and appeared content once again.
Not only eels, but “Pudding frogs” smiled at us through the glass of another exhibit, 
plus there was even a place to pet stingrays (which research indicates these aquatic creatures enjoy).
As we explored further, we discovered the museum premises covered ninety-eight acres! It was then we knew we were at a different museum altogether.
Pretty walkways wound through botanical gardens
and desert landscapes, as well as zoo animal enclosures. There was even a small cave with traditional stalagmites and stalactites.
Instead of being aggravated that we had gone to the “wrong” museum, we were delighted to enjoy the present moment —
to experience the “eternal now.” 

And what could be better than that?

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.