Waking up predawn, watching the first light unfold, creating dreams to replace the ones I would have had under my sheets; sunrise photography is becoming a much loved practice.
The luxury of not having to share the landscape, to admire the first light till your eyes are twinkly, to breath in the abundance of air till you are giddy; trumps morning sleep any day.
*How unfortunate that the word ‘trump’ makes me cringe each time I use it.
It was dusk, that magical time when day surrenders itself to the mysteries of the night in a golden embrace, a storm was approaching, the wind was starting to gain speed, people were shuffling about to get to the shelter, but the boy and his guitar were completely lost inside a piece music that had to happen. I walked past him but he did not see me, I photographed him and he was completely unaware. He was floating inside of his art.
There are places on this planet that cause us to reflect. On mountain tops, near river beds, in thick forests, and on beaches, we find parts of ourselves that we seem to have lost. I have always felt so lucky in my life that every morning the first thing I was able to dip into shortly after opening my eyes, was a jar full of inspiration. Inspiration causes a kind of effervescence that keeps me going and drives me to want to create and to want to be alive. When I find myself in a reflective place like this beach in Boracay, the first thing that gets refilled is that jar of bubbly inspiration.
River salmon has a very strange life pattern. It hatches upstream, swims downstream towards the ocean, matures downstream and then swims back upstream against all odds and strong currents, struggling and even jumping up waterfalls to make it back to the place where its life originated and eventually die there. I wonder if that’s the amount of superhuman effort needed for us to live our lives as they were meant to be lived, against all what tries to drag us downstream towards the oceans of mediocracy. To live a life aligned to human purpose would mean going against so much in order to escape being just another one amongst the lost.
My 8 year old daughter is fascinated by supernatural phenomena and is constantly asking about way a person can become a wizard. I have found that the best way to answer her constant questioning is by turning her to the best teacher of all, nature.
I have put her to the task of collecting examples of natural laws and she goes on somewhat patiently collecting examples of opposites (like day and night, up and down), then things that come in 3s, 4s, 7s and so on. Last night we were going on about waves which led me to my own research about the intricate motion and physics behind waves (fascinating). One type of waves is the breaking wave, the one whose top becomes way too heavy for its base to handle and is eventually forced to break. I thought how profound that is, and how similar it is to the towers of kings and queens in history that had a weak foundation and eventually came tumbling down as they still do today…
Being alone in our world today is a luxury that my soul yearns for everyday. There are so many parts of ourselves that need us to check in with them that not doing so can cause so much undue stress. The alone moments I take for myself everyday cause such a great sigh of relief in me and I walk away from my time alone with a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration. I remember taking long trips to places like India to be alone in my early twenties and returning with a sense of calm that is not possible to attain in any other way than self reflection. I wonder if this is how a sailor might feel.
photo taken: a lone boat on the shores of Boracay~ philippines
Sometimes it takes being in a far away place and simply gazing across a horizon to appreciate something so simple such as color. Color surrounds us and permeates our lives on this rich planet and a realization as obvious as blue and yellow making green can be so profound.
Being near the ocean can often cause a process of self reflection. It can slow one down into a state of calm allowing thoughts to float to the surface that were otherwise buried deep within. And good decision can be born of inspiration, an inspiration born out of rhythm, of repeating steps on the sand and the steady movement of waves beating on the shore…
photo: Walking on a sandy beach, Estepona, Spain
There are moments in life when we wake up and from the very first moment we feel inspired. A great rush of energy, a feeling of elation, a love for life, a wonder at creation, an awe about nature, a urgency to create, discover, explore…
It is like being in love, only more powerful.
It is a state we cannot force, it just turns up because it wants to.
It is where I dream of living.
photo taken in Boracay, Philippines, February 2011