Today, I went to the waterfront.  Alone.  Armed with my coffee, my camera, and a good book, I set out for a peaceful couple of hours.  As I neared the water, something wasn’t quite right.  There were people there!  Hordes of people.  As I slowly drove along the road to my secret parking spot, I felt disappointment (with a side of mild resentment).  Here I was ready for a peaceful visit to my coveted water only to find I had to share it.

I parked my car, gathered all my necessities and headed toward my spot, hoping that no one was there.  I hoped I could find a bench overlooking the waterbreak and the rocky shore.  Being that my spot was on the fringes of the path, I was able to snag it.

As I sat there nursing my coffee and half-reading my book, I started to pay more attention to my surroundings.  The father throwing rocks into the lake with his daughter.  The older couple parking their bicycles while chatting about the latest happenings of a TV show.  The woman walking her dog along the waves,  it occasionally jumping in and splashing her.  I noticed the robin tentatively approaching me in search of a worm.  The many sailboats on the horizon and the motorboats sailing past them.  I wanted to be on a boat.  Any boat.

I soaked it in, shaking my initial territorial reaction and its accompanying resentment.  I closed my book, chugged my almost-cold coffee, and pulled out my camera.  I don’t fancy myself a photographer.  I like taking pictures, but truth be told, I have no clue what I’m doing.  Nonetheless, I set out on a quest to capture the moments.  There is something about having a camera on hand that makes me more aware of the little things.  The things I usually take for granted.  The beauty in the mundane.

A brave bird.

The view from my bench

The texture of the bark of a tree many years my senior.

As people whizzed past me on their bicycles, inline skates, scooters, and sneakers, I couldn’t help thinking that they were missing out.  That if only they’d stop for a minute, they’d see – and maybe, just maybe, appreciate the world around them.   They had other things on their minds, I’m sure.  Places to go, times to beat, heart rates to raise.

When I stop.  When I look.  When I listen, everything becomes so much clearer.  The moments seem to last longer.  It is apparent to me that I need to do this more often.  I need to check out of my head and truly observe.  Truly be aware.  And, truly appreciate the world in which I live.

How do you connect to the world around you?  How do you capture moments?

____________________________

More moments, captured. sarahcasm’s Flickr

A remarkable series of serendipitous events has led me to new things.

The serendipitous events have been surreal and vivid.  Signs appeared one after the other, guiding me along a path that I am confident will lead me to freedom from what binds me.  Each new discovery chips away at the cloud that that has hidden the sun so well that I had almost forgotten that it still shone.  It is not a cloud of sadness, but a barrier to the light, to the truth, and to clarity.

Everyday, I marvel at the series of events of the past few weeks that have brought me to this day.  I am grateful for it and I am glad that I have been open to it all.

Dear Q,

We live in a consumer-driven world that will tell you that you need to want whatever you don’t have – from cars, to razors, to body parts.  This constant wanting prevents you from appreciating what you have and recognizing the abundance that surrounds you.  We are conditioned to complain – about the weather, about the economy, about work, about school, about other people.  In the summer, the weather is too hot.  In the winter, it’s too cold. Resist.

Abundance is a matter of perception.  Appreciate what you have.  When it rains, lift your face to the sky and be grateful that you are not living in drought.  Water is life and it is falling from the sky.  For free!  If you look at rain as an inconvenience, that is what it will become.  Concentrate on what you have and more will come to you.  Once you start to recognize the abundance around you, you will see just how much you have to be grateful for.

You are surrounded by abundance – of love, of nature, of laughter, of music, of art, of life… be grateful for it.

Love always,

Mom