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Miniatures and Mindfulness

 
              Dollhouse Miniatures and Mindfulness
     (Or - How meditation and miniatures helped me become a more peaceful person)

 

      I use "mindfulness" practice in my daily life.  For me,  mindfulness is all about focusing peaceful thoughts on the present, while still leaving room for awareness of total being, past and the future.  I have made use of various tactics to accomplish this... meditation, visualization, breathing exercises, etc.   But I'm finding a new "tool" to enhance my mindfulness... miniatures!
     I'm making a set of miniatures, playfully calling it "Gail (my first name) Town".   So far, I've included a Gallery for my art, a bicycle shop for my cycle-crazy husband, and a Choctaw chukka (Native American dwelling) as a tribute to my heritage.  Currently, I'm constructing a Town Plaza.  Gail Town is set Out West in a vintage time gone by, but you can set your stage anywhere/anytime you like.
     I enjoy building Gail Town at home, and then I enjoy it, in my mind, as I wander and go about my duties and appointments.    As I'm facing a scary or stressful experience (waiting rooms are notorious!), I close my eyes and wander a favorite area in the gallery, admiring my paintings. and planning new ones.  As I'm riding  towards a stressful meeting, I "visit" the bike shop and the cycles my husband loves so much.   Sometimes I meditate on Native American symbolism in pursuit of hope and strength, I sit cross-legged in the Choctaw chukka, seeking peace and beauty, even as chaos rules in the "real world" around me.  Thus, with "miniature mindfulness", I achieve a happy, comfortable mindfulness... merging past heritage/experience, present peacefulness, and future transcendence.  Peace!
     Although I put a lot of tedious effort into my miniatures, making furniture out of clay, miniatures of my actual paintings and sculptures, little animals, cardboard and styrofoam walls, YOU DON'T HAVE TO... SEE BELOW!!!!!!  I use 'found objects' to re-purpose: a tiny fuse is re-worked into a hummingbird feeder --- a bottle cap becomes a bowl --- twigs become shrubs and trees --- I'm always keeping my eyes open for re-purposeable miniature stuff.   I enjoy researching my miniatures.  For example, in the Choctaw Chukka,  I modeled traditional foods, bottles, symbol-hides, basket patterns, types of herbs collected and dried, even internal teepee design.   The Internet makes it easy, and I find it strengthens my visualizing and meditating amongst my miniature creations.  I have found that my stuff falls roughly into the 1:24 scale... 1/2 inch to one foot.
     DO YOU DO SOMETHING SIMILAR WITH MINIATURES?  WOULD YOU LIKE  TO?    You could do a miniature  all from scratch, as I do.  Or, if your skill/time/vision isn't there (OR IF YOU'RE RICHER THAN I AM!) you could buy and construct dollhouse stuff from the hobby store.  It could take the shape of a diorama, a pre-fabricated dollhouse, or a PRIMITIVE all-original construction LIKE MINE.  Your miniature could be any combination of pre-fab and scratch-made. The ONLY requirement... it must be something that is dear to you, something that brings to life an important  pursuit, something that focuses your love of something or someone, someplace that celebrates your hobby,  your passion, or your faith.  You'll enjoy the actual construction, and then later you'll treasure and savor the private contemplation of your miniature mental retreat.
     Here's my blog, if you'd like to take a look... I hope  it's okay to post it...
http://miniaturesandmindfulness.blogspot.com/

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