Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Unplanned moments

Just by chance - Lima Peru by litlesam
Just by chance - Lima Peru a photo by litlesam on Flickr.
I have learned one big lesson in life. That lesson is to live in the moment. I sometimes forget this lesson. When I do stress can set in letting doubts and fears can take over. When I start to worry about what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month, life starts to lose some of its joy. That is because I am not enjoying the moment I am experiencing. I am wasting that moment worrying about what is going to happen in the next one. For me this is bad for my relationships, its bad for me, and its mentally unhealthy. So I try to remind myself to stop and enjoy who I am, where I am, and what I am doing in the moment. I don't always live this way, and I can tell when I forget and slip back into the old mindset. But its such a waste to miss one moment of joy today because I am worrying about tomorrow.

This photo I took in Lima Peru in January 2010 reminds me of this lesson everytime I look at it. I just happened to be in Lima the very day the city was celebrating its 475th anniversary. It was completely unplanned. I had no idea when I planned the vacation that I would be there on a special day. I was in my hotel and heard loud drums and music outside the window. I walked out of my hotel and followed the noise to Plaza de Armas just a couple of blocks away. When I arrived in the plaza I saw a huge parade full of colorful costumes, musicians, religious floats, and huge masses of people on the street. I immediately started to take pictures of the scene. I was trying to capture the feeling of the day with just the right photos and became frustrated because there was so much going on that I could not make up my mind where to plan the best photos. Finally I turned around and snapped a quick photo. Completely unplanned and unedited I came up with this photo. I could have stood in that crowd for hours planning and hoping for the best photograph. Instead I accidently snapped a photo without any thought or plan. I could have missed the moment had I overthought or overplanned.

There are too many wonderful moments in life to chance missing them by wasting the moment worrying about tomorrow. I need to print that statement out and post it over my monitor so I can read it each morning.

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