Day 318 - A Year to Clear - See Yourself

Photo by Gabriel Barletta on Unsplash

Lesson 318: See Yourself

“Seeing takes time.”

— Georgia O'Keeffe

Today we are to take a photo of ourselves and truly look at it. What is it that makes you fond of that photo? What do you see in yourself?

One of my fav pictures of me in this whole world is the time I got to go to Thailand and spend it volunteering in an elephant village. It was to educate the owners that they don’t need to use their elephants for exploitation. That the elephants don’t need to have their spirit broken (phajaan) in order for the owners to use them for entertainment purposes. It’s to try and stop these inhumane practises and teach them that people are happy to visit these elephants without extreme measures taking place.

We get told that we are not to stand in between elephants as they can literally crush you and you would be seriously injured. If you do, it’s at your own risk. I was very new on my spiritual path when I took this solo journey to Thailand. I was having a nice day in the creek washing our elephants when I thought how nice it would be to connect my mind to my elephant. I decided to lay my head against hers and see if we could connect. She murmured as I held my head against hers. It was a really beautiful moment. I threw caution to the wind to share a most memorable moment being loved by this elephant. All I felt was calm and peace. It was magical and I am so grateful. In that moment, one of my friends took this photo of me.

It’s one of the most precious photos I have. I love the stillness in that moment. That my mind was away and free of pain, hurt, stress and darkness. I had been having the roughest time of my life and I wanted to bring more light into it. It’s in this photo that I captured a pure moment and it always reminds me of the love all of us beings can experience. I do want to return to this village to volunteer again. It really was one of the best experiences of my life and I wish I had more time there.

What’s a moment you captured that is your fondest memory?

Day 317 - A Year to Clear - A Whole-y Moment

Photo by Esmee Holdijk on Unsplash

Lesson 317: A Whole-y Moment

Stephanie Bennett Vogt recounts a story in this lesson about her husband taking a photo of her where she closed her eyes in a moment of contemplation. It wasn’t rehearsed and it was in a moment that was pure. There wasn’t a moment to fix her hair or make sure she looked good. It was a photo that showed stillness whilst in that moment; some that can be so rare for all of us. The task is to let someone take a photo of you and for you to breathe in stillness before the photo is taken. If you don’t have that option, take a selfie where you are not thinking about it and see what happens next. Do you find that you look like you let go? When you can let go of everything, does it show you more of who you are and want to be?

I remember taking a selfie of myself some time ago with my eyes closed whilst I was laying in my bed. I don’t know where that photo is now because it was on an old phone but I think I remembered it for the purposes of this post. I remember thinking how still I was. When I think about that picture, there was no pain, there was no girl with a million worries, there was just someone free and at peace. That photo was many years ago but I loved myself in that moment.

There is no reason why I can’t be this person now. I don’t have to let everything bother me. I just have to let go to allow that freedom and peace to enter my life. I don’t need to worry. There is that element of surrender that doesn’t easily come. It’s something to be reminded of today and try to practise in future. We can all have those moments of stillness at any point. It’s just a matter of choosing that for ourselves really.