When I posted this picture on Facebook yesterday, I was startled by the reaction it got. This photograph is now traveling around the World to who knows where. Many eyes will see it and stare at it with wonderment.
On this walk through the woods, I stopped along the path and looked at the light and patterns around me. Then with my camera I began to explore what I was seeing more closely. And then a whole new world opened up.
This photo represents a way of being in life that I strive for. I guess I would call it "going deeper into the experience of life". We've all heard the expression "stop and smell the roses", but that doesn't hold our attention for long.
In our society, there is no time to stop. These days most of us are moving very fast through life. We drive in cars, fly thousands of miles in a day, surf the internet, exercise fast, talk fast, eat fast, listen fast, think even faster, and rarely do we stop and absorb what is happening in this very moment.
There are moments in life when nature is putting on a show that will never happen again in that same way. And there are moments in life where some person, or your child, or even your own self, wants or needs your attention (listening, watching, touching, loving, or just being) and that moment will never happen again in that same way. I am painfully aware that I can never go back and capture those lost moments. All I can do is capture a moment today, and today and today.
It takes practice to slow down these days. We think surely we will miss something. But no, surely we will see something, and it could make all the difference.
