Category Archives: Meditation
Content With Silence
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”
Ansel Adams
Silence. It’s an important part of photography. Silence is also an important factor in meditation. I sometimes capture my best images when I’m shooting solo. Speaking of silence and meditation. One of my favorite places to photograph in Madison, Connecticut and somewhere I haven’t been in awhile is the
The Mercy Center is a retreat center in Madison, Connecticut that welcomes individuals and groups of diverse faiths and backgrounds to a peaceful place of natural beauty for personal, spiritual and professional renewal and growth. (This from the About Us page Mercy Center’s website.) I sometimes go there without my camera just to sit and reflect on what’s important in my life. I haven’t taken part in any of their programs, yet I’ve often thought about doing so. The Mercy Center is such a peaceful place and Madison is fortunate to have the center.
As with some of us who have a more spiritual nature, we sometimes take great pleasure from being alone with our thoughts. Silence plays a significant role in my life and when I can delve into that aspect of myself I can reinvigorated. Being out with my camera when I can be by myself can be a very spiritual time. I find that many of the outdoor activities that I partake in sometimes gives me great pleasure when I’m on my own. I can sit and contemplate when I want too. I can walk in the woods when I want too.
As I sit here on Sunday, October 23, 2011 writing this blog column for tomorrow, I’ve suddenly become aware the one of my favorite bloggers, Jessica M. at Ascending The Hills wrote a column last Saturday, October 15 called:
At the River’s Edge. In that column, Jessica wrote:
My aim is always to avoid as many people as I can and experience as much solitude as is possible. We oftentimes hike down steep paths, skirting the presence of others, until nestling into one of the river’s many curves, etched out by its persistent and ever continuous flow.
So, see? This proves my point in the previous paragraph that:
those of us who have a more spiritual nature, take great pleasure from being alone with our thoughts.
The same with when I fished earlier in my life. Which is not to say I’m anti social. Nothing could be further from the truth. My life is extremely public and I like it that way. But because I lead such a public life I also value my downtime.
There are a very few people I have no challenges with. They can be with me anytime and I never feel as if I’m being infringed upon. These are the people everyone should be fortunate to have. We understand when silence is a good thing and not uncomfortable.
I left a comment at Jessica’s column and said that I hadn’t found a spiritual haven yet. But maybe now after recalling the times I spent at The Mercy Center I REALLY have found my place.
Have you found your spiritual haven?
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
Be Still With Yourself
Before we start today:
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Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.
Minor White
Be still and know that I am God!
Be still. Meditate.
Be still and let nature come to you.
Don’t rush from one experience to another. Let the encounter dictate to you. Don’t dictate to the encounter. If you’re photographing nature, a deer, a rabbit, fox, whatever; wait until nature looks up at you. Hold the shutter until nature is looking into your lens.
As it is with photography, it is with all of life. Too many times we race from one moment to the next, never really giving time to the things that mean the most to us. I understand it is cliche but How many of us stop to smell the roses?
How many of us stop when we see a spider spinning its web and master at the intricacy it takes to create its home.
How many photographers have captured a dew wrapped web?
Be still. Meditate.
Is photography your form of meditation? Have you noticed that when you take a picture, you must stand stock still.
Being still. Hmmmm? Meditation?
I wonder how many photographers think about that when they raise their cameras to their eye? Even if you’re still for just a moment, those moments add up.
Do you go out with camera in hand and shoot for what seems a short period of time then realize you’ve been gone all day? That’s the sign that you’ve found your calling. You’re in the flow, a place where time slows down and speeds up all at the same time. It’s like I wrote about in Enjoying the Ride. Find your gift and use the flow like the wind.
Be still and watch nature come to you.
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
The Measure of Peace
The measure of peace surrounding a person’s life is often a projection of the measure of peace within that person.
From my friend, Joshua Guild’s Wall
On Facebook
September 15, 2011
Being at peace is a state of mind. If you can stay calm when everything around is NOT, then you’ve learned a lesson that many people are continually trying to master. The peace you feel within your soul can radiate out toward others. You can project that calm and those people that you surround yourself with will feel it as well.
If your friends know that you are a peaceful person, someone who does not get rattled, and if your friends DO let frenzied circumstances of their lives disturb their calm they will naturally gravitate toward someone, you, who can settle them down. The question then becomes:
Are you willing to become the person who will take on that negative force?
That all depends on the amount of negativity you’re willing to assume. Are the people who are seeking you out in a continual downward spiral? Or is it just a temporary challenge they are facing? Can you share some of your peace without losing your perspective?
Peace is a needed commodity in this life today. We are constantly racing from one appointment to the next.
We need to learn to slow down and take life at a snail’s pace sometimes.
We need to take time to meditate.
We need to turn off all distractions.
If we can learn to do this, the amount of peace we feel in our souls, in our lives will grow exponentially. Then we won’t have to share our peace with others because EVERYONE will feel it. EVERYONE will have it.
We know this won’t happen though. There are people we ALL know who can’t turn off the noise, who can’t stop, who can’t find calm in the storm. Because we know this we will always return to the question I posed above:
How much time are you willing to spend sharing your peace, your calm with those people who can’t or won’t find it for themselves?
If you’re reading this blog and you’re a frequent visitor here, I imagine we share many of the same qualities. I would bet your answer to the above question would be similar to mine:
You’d give as much time as needed and not consider yourself.
That can be an admirable trait, but you MUST be careful not to drain yourself of the much needed peace in your own being. You MUST know when to give and when to pull back. It’s been difficult at times to learn. I have sometimes stayed too long in a relationship ONLY because I wanted to help that person move beyond a hurt. I wanted so much to give my peace to them because I have so much of it to share. But unless THEY are willing to move forward, unless they are willing to change, no amount of giving on my part will help. I can be surrounded by all the peace in my soul and be willing to share it but the people I’m sharing with must be willing to NOT only take what I’m offering but also be willing to do some of the work to hold onto that peace.
Peace, calm, serenity. We must find a way to hold onto these things today.
How are you keeping these things within you?
Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris
