Week 1: Stasis / Intrusion

This picture was taken outside my new apartment in Verano Place at the end of a very long day at the end of a very long week...Week 0, which I am now sure they named such so that it can be filled with as much craziness as they want.   It's like it never happened!  (And no, I don't know who "they" are)

What a pretty picture, huh?  I love the different colors and the sunset that almost seems to be happening from left to right.  I really love the dark sillouette of the trees and buildings in the foreground, and the colorful sky in the background - it feels wide open, freeing, and full of variety - like the world is my oyster!  The lights of the houses seem really warm and inviting.  My favorite part is the halo of lighter colors around the edges where the trees and buildings meet the sky.  I'm not even sure how this happened, it's just how my Iphone took the picture, but I get the distinct impression of something bigger than myself - that idea that there is something greater than myself (universal consciousness, God, the infinite, whatever you want to call it).  It is just stunning, and even looking at the picture as I am writing this, I get chills.  It's like when I took the picture I noticed the halo quality of the picture, innately understood that for me it was symbolic of the inter-connectedness of all things and representative of something bigger than myself, but didn't fully realize I got all that in that moment, until I am typing this RIGHT NOW!

I love yoga and self-growth, and I love the idea of living in the present moment.  I don't want to take things for granted, and want to strive to always be grateful.  But I'll be honest...sometimes I can't help but get wrapped up in my busy schedule and forget to take the time to appreciate the now.  In the craziness of Week 0, I was consumed.  This picture was taken when I was walking home from a long day, and for no reason at all, stopped and turned around to look at the sun set over the trees.  It's like I knew it was there before I even saw it.  And I took the time to stop where I was and be grateful for the here and now.  I will always remember what Gary said in my MFA meeting about being "all in" and remembering that a lot of people want(ed) to be sitting in the seats that we all were - I never want to take my time at UCI for granted.

I titled this week "Stasis / Intrusion" because this picture marks the beginning of my new life as a busy MFA grad student in a whole new world (did anyone else begin humming the song from "Aladdin?" Just me? Great...).  In Script Analysis we learned that in a play, we begin in Stasis - almost like the given circumstances of the play, the world in which the characters go on living in.  Then, some big event interuputs (the Intrusion) and changes the stasis and sets the play into motion.  For me, this picture is representative of my Week 0 Stasis (of being consumed and forgetting to appreciate and time time to be grateful), and that moment when I had the guttural instinct to stop, turn around, and be grateful for all the beauty in my life.