Category: Mindfulness

  • 5 years of swimming

    5 years of swimming

    I think it’s been at least five years, swimming every (almost!) afternoon after work.

    Years ago I decided to take my physical health a little more seriously. I can’t remember the actual reasons tbh, but I wanted regular exercise that was achievable, practical and not too expensive.

    I tried running, but it just wasn’t me. I can run, but it just feels like such an effort for minimal results. Maybe I’m doing it wrong 😂

    I’m so far, not a gym person. Instead, I use the kettle bells at home and I seem to be able to do most of what I want with those.

    My regular full-body exercise though, is swimming and I love it.

    It’s my switch off after work, it’s a cool down , it’s my mechanism for changing over to my time and it’s great exercise for my whole body.

    It is very cold in winter tho! But I’ve found over the years that I’ve gotten stronger and stronger with ignoring the cold. If the ice water is really healthy, then I’m getting a good dose of it. Recent research seems to indicate few benefits though it seems.

    If you’re looking for regular exercise regimes, what works for you and each person will be different, but I can recommend this combination. It works for me.

    In tough times, or when stress has been high, exercise and art have saved me and kept me sane. Regular physical body movement is the best, especially if you need to get out of your head.


  • We arrive and leave with nothing

    We arrive and leave with nothing

    In this life, we’re born small, naked and in possession of absolutely nothing.

    Not a single thing. When I reflect on that for a moment, we really do arrive in this world with nothing.

    But in some ways, it’s everything.

    We’re born with everything we need. Hopefully we have parents who will care for us. We have health, warmth, a food source and all of the genetics to grow into an adult.

    And yet in life, we chase everything else.

    We spend our time chasing wealth, things, entertainment, power and whatever else the world of commerce wants to trend.

    It would appear though, that each person arrives at the point where we recognise that chase. The way we’ve spent our life, how and what we’ve chased.

    For the lucky and enlightened ones, that point might be early on in life. For others it’s part way through and for some, just before death.

    But at some point, I think the vast majority of people pause, look back and review their life.

    We do leave with nothing.

    When our physical life ends, it’s like despawning in-game 😂 Or as SpaceX puts it, perform a rapid unscheduled disassembly 😂 Well hopefully we don’t disassemble!

    The point is, we drop everything that we had spent our life chasing.

    Whatever money, things, power and everything else is suddenly given up in one single moment. We exit the world with nothing but our memories.

    We are gifted this life though and to live amongst society, we need certain basics. Still I find myself admiring those who are able to live with a completely different set of basics, or barely none at all. A privileged perspective really.

    So what do we live for and focus on? Each to their own, but for me it’s things that feed or light up my soul. Soul work. When I choose work now, that’s my main criteria. I need to be doing good for the world, it’s people or giving back in some other way.

    It really does train you to follow your energy to the truthful work that gets you lit 🔥 You can do work for the money or other reasons. But that work is counterintuitive (in the long term) to what you were likely brought here for. Burn out can be the symptom of choices that didn’t align. Choose the path that energises your soul.

    For me, I use the reminder that we leave here with nothing, as an end check point and level reset for life.

    If I’m ever uncertain about what aligns, there’s lots of things that guide me, but when I’m really lost, sometimes projecting out to the end and tracing backwards is an interesting method to guide the path forward.

    Actually when I leave, can I just take a nice freshly toasted bagel 🥯 with salted butter please? 😂😂✨



  • Capturing moments

    Capturing moments

    Each week as a photographer, I get to capture people’s special moments and each one is a unique experience.

    During the shoot, there’s all sorts of responses:

    • You’re funny!
    • I feel seen
    • I’m tired and this is extra work
    • I’m shy, but this is kinda nice
    • I’m so worried and my world is heavy, thank you for this tiny breather
    • Thanks for spending a few minutes with me
    • I can’t focus well, how do you expect me to smile?
    • I’m not sure I look my best, I’m trusting you

    There’s all sorts of people in different states of mind and level of chill before the shutter is pressed. Many want to chat. Lucky I’m a talker 😂 But similar to getting a tat, it’s someone else trying to encourage you to be comfortable and look the way you’d like to be seen. It can be a moment of vulnerability.

    It’s a trust exchange.

    When all the factors align though, there’s some that are captured just at that pure joy moment. A laugh or smile that’s free. A moment of pure energy where the soul shines through and it happens the shutter was pressed at just the right instant. And when it happens, it all comes together, it’s magic.

    I look back at those photos and they radiate truth. All the filters are off, the worries of life are gone. It seems like full release and or peak trust. Where the process and tool have been forgotten and the person is so in the moment.

    Somehow when it happens, what’s captured in the pixels feels like a tiny little glimpse of their true special self. Loose for a moment, free and happy.

    Maybe this is one of the major goals while behind the camera. And also I guess, just generally in life.

    To try and forget the process and just uncover the joy in each and every moment.

  • 423 billion kms

    423 billion kms

    Happy 423 billion kms travelled 🚀♾️✨

    When we think about distance travelled, we usually default to the distance we travel by transport across the surface of the earth.
    If you travel to an office workplace and back and live a fairly localised life, you likely do about 15-20k kms (12.5k miles) a year.

    That’s 1.8 million kms (1.2 million miles) travelled for your lifetime if you live to 90 years old.

    But thats a limited view of the universe.

    We’re travelling through space and the earth is spinning, orbiting and drifting.

    Just orbiting the sun, I’ve travelled 48 billion kilometres (30 billion miles).

    Travelling in the Milky Way adds another 374 billion kilometres (232 billion miles).

    And spinning on the earths axis adds another 634 million kms (393 million miles).

    I like to imagine a stardust trail that I’m leaving behind as I hurtle through space. My songline.

    And all of our trails are spinning out into the sky, space and out into the universe together. All mixed together.

    If my first bit of stardust is 423 billion kilometres away, there’s no chance I’m meeting it again in this lifetime. We only travel in one direction, spiralling forward in life.

    Sometimes I like to wonder though, where that first bit is in space? I wonder if in the future, some smart people will figure out how to travel back to it and say hello. I’d like to hold it and reassure it, that all the stardust that came after it turned out okay.

    You can calculate your travelled distance by prompting:

    If I’m X years old, how far have I travelled in space including earth rotation, sun orbit and through space? 🙂 🌏

  • Soul cleansers

    Soul cleansers

    You may need to recharge or detox from time to time and we all have our different ways of doing that.
    For me, I keep returning to a handful of helpful methods and they are:

    Fire

    I light a fire 🔥 and sit in the smoke 💨 It’s like having this cloud wash through you and take the stress and worry with it.

    Ocean

    The ocean is my soul friend. If I could spend every day by it, I would. Swim in the ocean and absorb the salt.

    Salt is such a great cleanser. And sea salt is full of healthy minerals that clean your skin, heal wounds and wash your hair.

    Sunshine ☀️

    Sitting in the sun is the best. It warms me, reassures me, recharges and soothes me. It reminds me that each day is a new chance to try again. The sun will rise again tomorrow and we get to do a little better than yesterday.

    Nature

    Hang out in nature and breathe the fresh air. I love getting out in the Australian bush where there’s no sounds of the city. Just the birds, a few kangaroos 🦘 and fresh air.

    Stillness

    Create stillness. Life is best processed in stillness and quiet. Thoughts and feelings can be heard, meanings deciphered.
    In calm and stillness, you grow.