I have been evaluating what I am grateful for. And in doing so, I discovered that there is an experience of greater connection with those things that I have selected to express my gratitude for.
When I started to do therapeutic walking in nature with my camera in hand, the
rhythm of my steps chanted a silent prayer of thanks for that moment and my
perception of the moment changed.
Through the lens of my camera I focused on the details of the beauty
around me and learnt to spot even the beauty in the objects that others might
see as ordinary or even ugly.
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| Red Bed's Trail Hike around the base of Devils Tower |
I transformed, as I saw more and
more of the myriad beauties all around me.
I started to find beauty in unexpected places. I discovered that by stepping beyond the
ugly I could find my way to the moment of beauty just around the corner.
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| Como Lake Park NY |
My eye learnt to see things that I used to overlook and my
photo followers often commented on how I manage to take an ordinary object and
reveal its hidden beauty.
Part of this is my innate talent (and for that talent I am thankful also) but mostly I think it is due to my spiritual me singing a song of gratitude when I am on my adventures and walks. I feel a grateful connection to the moment when I am surrounded by nature.
Something that I started to do as an escape, to step
outside myself and my hurting and my grief became a blessing because I was able
to be grateful that opportunity.
It did
not heal my sorrow.
It did not change
the circumstances that caused the grief.
But it made life bearable.
It
opened me up to new acquaintances and new friendships. It allowed me to see that there are other
dimensions to my life outside the events that have hurt me so deeply. That in itself, is a blessing.
However that was only the beginning.
The feed back that I received for my
photography rekindled hope that there was something worth doing
with the remainder of my life. The
praise awakened in me the desire to reach out, to reconnect and to get back to loving life. To possibly helping others by sharing with them what I have learnt.
The simple act of gratitude, while not
healing the pain or the cause of the grief, opened up my life to new horizons,
and new possibilities and the acceptance that just as a gem can have many
facets so can my life.
I can have sorrow and still have wonder and awe and
gratitude.
I can have pain and yet have joy, they can live side by side.
I can experience
the despair of things that have ended
and yet celebrate the birth of new
beginnings.
And just as a gem can have inclusions and flaws, yet still be deemed beautiful; so I too can have flaws and still be a wonderful worthwhile person.
Together all these all these facets create the preciousness of my life as it is now. To do more and be able to accept more from the simple pleasure of living.
Gratitude gave me an experience which in turn opened up for me the opportunity to explore other avenues of growth. Gratitude did not fix my life but it changed me.
The circumstances of my life have not changed, my outlook has.
The grief is still there, but there is a peace of mind.
The sorrow still haunts me, but there is a balancing joy as well.
and who knows what lies unseen, just around the corner?
Colorado - Steamboat Springs - Hiking down Mt. Werner
© Photoart by Renate Dundys Marrello
My journal entries and pictures are copyright
You may quote and share as long as you give me credit
Hard copies may not be made.
Photoart may be ordered as signed art if you contact me.
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© My journal blog entries and pictures are copyright
You may quote and share if you contact me and ask for permission
Hard copies may not be made
Photoart may be ordered as signed art if you contact me.
