How has it started for you? We’re in Poland and we’re enjoying the REAL winter here. Just a few photographs today taken by me and my dear friend Dorota @MyCake. Dorota is in the pictures with my little boy. Go and visit her lovely Facebook site. She makes MAGIC.
2017, we’re more than ready to get to know you. :)
No one knows it better than children that darkness can be beautiful and exciting. That shadows can have their charm. That solitude can bring up our creative spirits and make them hear voices that naturally disappear during our daily ramble of routines. No one knows it better than children that the unknown is always a promise of discovery, that the scary can easily be turned into the unusual or the magical.
Sometimes we need a bit of help to tread into the unknown and to become childen whose curiosity is stronger than fear, we need to be helped with going through the darkness of self-discovery. During our darkest moments we rarely resemble children who are interested in observing or making the magic happen. During our darkest moments we are utterly confused, stuck in the difficulty. And this is when we reach for somebody or something and this is usually the time when many of us start to pray again – or to pray for the very first time ever. The prayer works, mostly when we understand that
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” Soren Kierkegaard
It’s when we start to smile at darkness that the magic begins. It’s when we take the responsibility for making the magic happen, that it does.
When I’m going through a period of strong self-doubt I always reach for my camera. My camera is my reassurance tool. It always makes me bounce back from failures and depressing news. The lens works for me as a bad-to-good news filter. It allows me to remember that really there is so much sweetness in life, sweetness that we make ourselves oblivious to when our minds are anxious. When I take my camera out, I re-focus. I see the treats and the treasures of our daily life and at times I even look at myself with a more positive eye – have you noticed that smiling to the camera makes us more playful almost instantly? And ironically, play makes us find more solutions to our problems then anxiety does. How do you cultivate a playful mind?
Last month we went for a short trip to Milan to visit our son’s great grandmother. Milan is a beautiful place known all too well for il Duomo, its cathedral, and for its fashion. But there is much more to Milan as is to every city so I’ll be doing a series of photo-essays on this blog from our Milan trip. Just for a pure enjoyment of travel and photography. :)