Brain Pickings- Choosing Presence over Productivity

Today I must link to a wonderful article posted by Brain Pickings (they send a variety of thoughtful, loving, deep, and memorable short articles focusing on artists and authors and philosophers throughout history and modern life). 

One of my favorite discussions to have with patients, that frequently dives deep into their sources of healing or disease, is simple: "What is your favorite thing to do each day?"

As a side note, every single patient I have seen with a frozen shoulder cannot think of a single thing, other than TV, that they enjoy in their daily routine.  However, TV is usually a numbing agent rather than something truly enjoyable. Certainly, when in overwhelm, we need our numbing agents from time to time.  I make no judgements!  Their daily burden is so severe, that even should they exercise, it is full of demands and rigors and goals rather than anything actually enjoyable, such as noticing the sky while out for a run.  A common response they have given to the question is, "Wow, I'm going to have to get back to you on that."

Please, find those small moments to savor, and find a way to discover them every single day.  The sunlight through the changing fall leaves.  The mist rising up off the grass when the sun rises.  The sudden dip in temperature the moment the sun crests over the horizon in the early morning.  The sound of tree frogs in the evening, or the sound of the city just after a rain storm in the dark.  Or arriving 15 minutes early to appointments and savoring a moment to read your favorite book, or just to watch the people coming and going in their own busy lives.

The busier our schedules are, the more we need these moments.  We don't have to let the advertisers tell us that a moment is empty if we don't have a loud stimulus of music, screens, shopping, or food.

So if you have 3 minutes, I suggest you catch breath of fresh air by reading this:  click here.

In my life, I can tell I have been particularly succumbing to stressful existence if I have not been taking photographs of beautiful moments.  I realized this again recently, so as I walked my son to his bus stop, I stopped to take a photo.  Artwork inevitably captures our thoughts and emotions at the moment of creation.  It is a wonderful way to track our own mindset, and looking back at old pieces of artwork, we can start to see more about how we were or what we were feeling.  When I used to photograph black & white buildings, or really enjoyed photographing peeling paint, I was processing a sense of harsh structures and how they erode over time.  I was also processing the beauty than be found in that erosion that we work so hard to prevent and cover up.

The photo above just seems like a splash of fall color livened up by sunshine to me now, but I do wonder what I will see in it when I review it from a new perspective years from now.

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