{"id":696,"date":"2012-01-11T14:47:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T19:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/?p=696"},"modified":"2012-01-11T14:47:25","modified_gmt":"2012-01-11T19:47:25","slug":"whos-watching-over-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/?p=696","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s watching over me?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have a corner in my den that I affectionately refer to as &#8220;Meditation Corner.&#8221; I say that because it has my tapestries that I purchased from the Monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery, a photo of me with the Geshe-la (lead Monk) and the translator, a photo of the completed Sand Mandala of Peace, and two dried roses that were on the altar while they were constructing the mandala.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve also a quote from the Dalai Lama, a bronze bell, a silver plated incense stick cannister, and a copper and chrome thurible (which is what holds incense cones and loose burning incense to defuse it).<\/p>\n<p>So, as you can tell, I take my meditation corner (and my meditations) seriously.<\/p>\n<p>But, if I look up and to the left, I can see a special candle I burn (&#8220;Storm Watch&#8221; by Yankee Candle), a\u00a0 candle holder that is much like a goblet (in cobalt), and a harlequin that I&#8217;ve referred to as &#8220;Mama Quinn&#8221; (a play on Harlequin) since she waltzed into my life 7 years ago.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/IMG_0215-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-698\" title=\"IMG_0215-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/IMG_0215-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/IMG_0215-1.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/IMG_0215-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Behind her are peacock feathers. Why peacock feathers?\u00a0 I only consider positives, not negatives, ergo&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>Peacock feathers represent pride, and by extension, nobility and glory. Peacocks are also known to eat poisonous plants with no ill effects, making their feathers a symbol of incorruptibility and immortality.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Buddhists associate peacock feathers with openness, since the birds display everything when they spread their tails. Buddhists also ascribe great meaning to the bird&#8217;s diet of poisonous plants&#8211;the ability to thrive in the face of suffering.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In ancient Greece, the peacock was the patron bird of the goddess Hera. According to myth, she placed &#8220;eyes&#8221; on its feathers, symbolizing all-seeing knowledge and the wisdom of the heavens.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Hindu mythology associates peacocks with the god Lakshmi. The feathers thus represent his qualities: kindness, patience and good fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(Definitions courtesty of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ehow.com\/facts_4925293_peacock-feather-symbolize_.html\">http:\/\/www.ehow.com\/facts_4925293_peacock-feather-symbolize_.html<\/a>\u00a0 )<\/p>\n<p>Silver Blue, who wonders if the world couldn&#8217;t be made a better place if we all would just take the time to be quiet, turn our thoughts inward, and listen instead of always jabbering&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have a corner in my den that I affectionately refer to as &#8220;Meditation Corner.&#8221; I say that because it has my tapestries that I purchased from the Monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery, a photo of me with the Geshe-la (lead Monk) and the translator, a photo of the completed Sand Mandala of Peace, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[288,312,53,313,287],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","tag-canon","tag-mama-quinn","tag-meditation","tag-meditation-corner","tag-t3i"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyesofsilverblue.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}