The Art of The Softened Gaze

She looks at a place neither near nor far away, a destination in her mind's eye that only she can see.

(Portrait of uber-chic Marguerite Kelsey by Meredith Frampton, 1928)

He gazes softly downward, seeing nothing...and everything.

(Photographs of the alluring Duncan Grant by A. L. Coburn, 1912 )

He stares calmly ahead, book forgotten, absorbing the peace that slowly suffuses the tunnels of his mind.

(Photograph of debonair Mark Twain in 1909 via The Retronaut)

Somewhere in the middle distance, between the madding crowd and the noisy whirring of your brain, lies the land of meditation.

It's easy to get to.

Just relax, breathe and unfocus your attention.

(A little more.)

(A little more.)

(A little more.)

(A little more.)

Shhhhhhhh.

You're there.

(Portrait of singularly bohemian Karola Neher by Rudolf Schlichter, 1929)

I highly recommend it for taking the sting out of a manic Monday.

The Hearth of the Matter

In every home, there should be one room dedicated to seeing clearly, regardless of the view.

This happens to be mine.

To the outside world, it goes by the name of "upstairs office." But I know it by another name: The Lisa Borgnes Giramonti Center for Cognitive Realignment.

This room was created for physical indolence and spirited mental wanderings. Here, I set my grey cells loose to make new connections, stumble upon the unexpected, and -- if I'm lucky -- to topple down a wormhole and come up with a breakthrough.

It's a intimate form of elopement, really. "Come on, darling," I say to my brain. "At long last, it's just you and me. Let's go off together and not tell anyone."

Some days, I am filled with inspiration. I lose myself in a book or a blogpost and suddenly, it's time to pick up Luca from school. I love those days.

Other days, I feel totally stuck. In those situations, I relax, surrender to the moment and focus my attention outward. Insight usually follows.

Just outside my Center for Cognitive Realigment there is a little balcony that offers a particularly pastoral method of healing. The active ingredients are sunlight, breeze and birdsong.

Do you have a room of your own where you can be who you are?