Balance in This One Precious Life

 

Life is sometimes upside down, sometimes sideways, but always a surprise. When I think life is going left, it turns right, and when it tips, I feel myself sliding down. When I feel like I have balance, something in this world happens, and I fall down. Life is constantly surprising me in good and bad ways.

When I think of my life and how I have lived this far, I am proud of myself and feel myself still struggling at the same time. When I think I have balance, I trip, and we go back to attempting to achieve balance again. 

Photography for me is one of the things in my life that has been constant since I was a little girl. My grandfather, Louis, would take photos and videos of my life. I lived with them till I was nine years old. I have his cameras and other family members' cameras. I have a massive collection at this point, but pointing the camera is what makes me happy; it is what brings me balance. When my world feels out of sorts, I grab my digital camera and I go into the woods. I search for things to shoot. I look for mushrooms and feel the differences in the bark of the trees.

Something about being behind the camera helps me look at life in an unbiased way. It allows me to focus on different textures and colors. It allows my brain to put down the phone and concentrate on what is in front of me. It could be a pile of children's bikes or it could be art on the side of a building.

Whatever I am taking photos of makes me concentrate on my subject. What light is on it? What colors are before me? Would this look better in black and white? Color? Maybe it would look better with some adjustments after I take the phone. Perhaps a filter is called for?  

Whenever I am shooting, my brain relaxes, I  rebalance, and take steps to hold onto all that I see, all that I am taking in, all that I am learning from nature and my own eye. Life sometimes, well, most, seems out of balance. Work work work and no fun, so I try to take the camera out and look at the world in a different way, which allows me to rebalance. 

What is it that helps you balance? Family? Friends? Volunteering? Walking each day? Sometimes we just need to change our lens to see life differently, to rebalance. Sometimes it takes more, but Photography has been a lifelong friend, and I do not know what I would have done. So, Grandpa Louis, I thank you for loving me, for sharing your passion with me, and for always being there to balance me.

May today be a blessing to you, may your life feel light, balanced, and filled with joy. If not, take a walk, look at life through a different lens, and  I hope it helps you rebalance your life.

Happy July to you all!

xoxooxx

Debbie