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| Fuzzy Fuchsias/ Hilary Thompson |
As
an amateur photographer, one of the main concerns when taking photos is all
about focus. As you can see with this image, I messed up the focus and lost all
the detail of these lovely Fuchsias. Yes, the colour is there, but the detail
is missing and the lack of focus makes it uncomfortable to look at the picture.
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| Fly Agaric Fungi - Hilary Thompson |
This
image is much easier to look at. The focus is sharp and you can see all the
detail, not only on the Toadstool, but also the details of the surrounding
leaves and grasses. The only thing missing here are the Fairies, but maybe they
are just hiding and shy of being photographed!
Where
am I going with this? Well, life is about focus, which is something not all of
us are good at.
Instead
of being fully focused on what we are doing, we tend to try to do too many
things at once and then wonder why we are stressed. Multi-tasking these days
seems to be the norm; but I believe that multi-tasking is not healthy or
productive. When we are not focused on what we are doing, we tend to miss out
on the details of the task at hand; which can cause us more work in the long
run.
Not being focused on what
each day brings can cause us to re-visit the past or project ourselves into the
future. This is not helpful as it can make us miserable by allowing feelings
like guilt fear and worry to take over. The truth is we can not change the past
and we have yet to reach the future. As
the Buddha says: “The past is
already gone, the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to
live, and that is the present moment.”
Some people might say “I don’t have time to focus on one thing
because there is too much to do.” This is a furphy. As Eckhart Tolle says in
his book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment: “Time isn’t
precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is
not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious
indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the
Now, the most precious thing there is.”
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| Golden Rose - Hilary Thompson |
Here is a picture of a golden rose.
I have taken out the back ground so that all you can see is the rose. There is
nothing to distract your eye from it. This image can be used as an exercise to
experience being in the Now. Focus your attention on the rose; notice the
colours, the shapes of the petals and ignore any chatter in your mind. Notice
how that feels; just for a few seconds.
For
those few seconds you have nothing in the future to worry about, nothing from
the past to feel bad about. Feels good – doesn’t it?
Right
now I am focused on writing this blog post. Right now I have no past and I
have not reached the future. And guess what, I am happy and peaceful. I am not
thinking about the past and feeling bad about it. I am not thinking about the
future and worrying about what might happen. I am just enjoying creating this blog post. I am living in the Now and believe me, it is a good place to be.
Hilary Thompson
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information about the services I offer, please check out my web site:
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