Category: Mindfulness

  • 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.

  • We are like a garden

    We are like a garden

    Some days we need more water.

    Some days, we need a little more sunshine.

    At times, we fruit.

    At times, we rest or grow in silence.

    But with daily work, our garden will flourish!

  • Keep your life low-key

    Keep your life low-key

    Keep your life low-key and share only what you want people to have access to, it protects your peace.

    People will judge you, make assumptions about your life. Let them. Let them know what you want them to, the rest is just assumptions and guesses.

    You hold the power in protecting your peace and nobody really know’s what’s going on in your life unless you choose to share it. It’s a superpower of silence.

    Just get on with your life and keep your privacy. Privacy is your power and safe place.

    Living a low-key life, protects your peace 💛✨🪽