Thoughts and Musing – Page 18 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Be Still

If you haven’t guessed by now my dear readers, I really crave quite places and time to think and reflect.

Our modern world is full of artificial concerns, pressures and deadlines . Sometimes we just want to collapse and think about nothing. The word amusement literally means to stop thinking. However, I believe it’s more fulfilling in these quiet times and places to push back those modern world concerns and contemplate deeper levels of thought. It’s not that our world suffers from too much thinking, we suffer from the lack of free thoughts.

It’s more than just learning the structured teachings of learned masters. It’s more than equations and mathematical prowess.

cogito, ergo sum ( I think, therefore I am) – René Descartes

The popular phrase was one that we learned at a very young age. I have forgotten if it was in history class or literature class. But it wasn’t until recently that I began to realize the full implications of what seems to be a simple concept.

If my thoughts are what makes me then what happens if my thoughts are not my own? What if I allowed my thoughts to be influenced by distraction from the media, or peer pressure, or any number of competing ideas? Like a virus, some ideas can come in from a outside source and replicate themselves in our hearts and minds. If our thoughts are no longer our own then we are no longer ourselves. We become a copy of whatever ideas are planted.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” – Proverbs 23:7

This is why it’s so important to be able to take time and contemplate the ideas we are exposed to. Our minds have a natural filter that must be cleaned and refreshed on a regular basis. If bad ideas are allowed to linger for too long without active examination they can be absorbed by the subconscious and work their way into our hearts.

Take charge of your quiet time and don’t get so busy that you forget to check your filters.

The Lost Art Of Being

black and white photography, Thoughts and Musing, wildlife

I watched this bumblebee working on the thistle and became enamored with the simplicity of its life. She isn’t in a rush to complete a quota. She isn’t distracted by all the activity of the other insects. She’s just being a bee and doing what she was born to do. She seemed to take pleasure in her small uncomplicated life.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~Lao Tzu

I sometimes wonder if the reason why everyone is always in such a rush is that we have left our natural purposes.

Somewhere, deep down inside we all know who we were born to be. It has nothing to do with jobs, social status or the expectations of others. It’s the thing that you do that causes you to lose track of time. When you look up and you’re amazed at how much got done without effort.

When you are just being what you were truly meant to be. That’s what happiness is.

Let The Light In

Color Photography, encouragement, Thoughts and Musing

Sometimes when I’m talking to friends about things like fear of the unknown or just fear and doubt in general I’ll pose a riddle.

“I was afraid of the dark, but then I became the darkness “.

For the first time ever I’m going to publicly give you the answer.

When you are in a dark place there is fear and anxiety. You can’t perceive the world around you. What’s out there could be bad. It might even be very bad. You’re fear comes from your mind filling in the unknown with projections of worse case scenarios. The flight or fight response kicks in. Adrenaline surges through your blood and your ready for the unknown.

But why become the darkness? It sounds scary. Doesn’t that make you evil? No, not at all. Because a person who is in darkness casts no shadow! In order to become darkness one must become a shadow. In order to become a shadow one must leave the darkness and move into the light. If a person who is in the light is casting light, the the light is being reflected instead of absorbed. The truth will set you free but only if you drink it in make it a part of you.

The Light shines for everyone but not everyone steps out of darkness to let the light in.

The River Awakens

Color Photography, Thoughts and Musing

Morning in the mountains of Appalachia can be spectacular. The fury of old man winter is no match for the warm southern sun. Fire bursts over the mountains and the frost shrinks back little by little until nothing is left.

The Kanawha River blazing with the light of a new day begins to shake itself free of its icy cage. The river has work to get done today. Barges must be moved and energy has to be produced. Downstream there’s hot steel to be quenched and tempered. It’s a very busy day ahead for the mighty Kanawha River.

Cultivate Life

black and white photography, encouragement, Thoughts and Musing

This old barn near Summerville West Virginia always seems to have something to offer my lens. I was raised in agriculture. I look at the old barns and think about the life that was housed there. Not just grain, hay and farming supplies but the people who worked the land. I can hear the ghostly echoes of conversations about life and love, business and pleasure. I can hear the footsteps of young people who think that they’re up to mischief but really are just learning about life. People who share work are investing in each other. Work parties often ended in generations of close friends. You may not have barns where you live but odds are that you do have people. I want to encourage you to reach out to a neighbor and offer to share in some work. You’ll be surprised to see how large your family really is.