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“As I celebrated what was right with the world,
I began to build a vision of possibility, not scarcity. Possibility...
always another right answer.”
~ Dewitt Jones ~
Celebrate
What's Right with the World by Leslie Karen Sann
I recently ran across a video piece put together by
Dewitt Jones, a photographer for National Geographic. In it he shares a
vision he has embraced through his work with the magazine: Celebrate
what's right with the world, rather than wallow in what's wrong. View
it here.
In the video there's a scene where he talks about
his humanness and how he wasn't in the mood to take a shot of a field of
dandelions he had been planning. By the time he went back the field of
dandelions that had been spectacular, rich green grass filled with bright
yellow flowers, had changed. Now it was a field of puff balls and in
comparison looked dull. Yet, instead of packing up and going home, he
asked himself,
WHAT CAN BE CELEBRATED HERE IN THIS MOMENT? WHERE
ARE THE POSSIBILITIES?
He let that question roll around inside of him as he
was playing with his camera, shooting from every different angle, distance
and direction. And a moment came when the sun shone in such a way that it
backlit a puff ball and he captured that moment on film. And the photo is
well-- magnificent! More beautiful than the original one he went to shoot.
If he had gone home, given up, let himself get discouraged . . .
How is life like that for us non-photographers? How
often do we look at what we have and decide it's not what we want and WALK
AWAY instead of asking WHAT CAN BE CELEBRATED HERE AND NOW JUST AS THIS
IS?
Christmas Eve morning a friend had emailed me a
quote by Gangaji, "Choose Silence and Love is apparent". I
printed it out and posted it over our fireplace.
That evening my husband and I were sitting by the
fire. He was in a quiet contemplative place enjoying the stillness of the
evening. I noticed my mind was going and I wanted to talk, but he was
still and silent. What I wanted and what was in the moment did not match.
I read the quote. I chose the Silence. I listened for Love. And It
appeared. And the experience was more beautiful than what I had in mind
when I came into the room to join my husband on the couch. Way, way, way
more beautiful. Something truly to be celebrated, to rejoice.
How often do we argue with the way things are, and
what results do we produce? When I argue with reality I can make myself
very unhappy, miserable in fact. I walk away in that moment from what is
already present that can be celebrated. If only I was willing to look for
it.
It is said happiness is an inside job and I have
found this to be true. It takes great courage and inner strength to choose
to be happy, to celebrate what is, even when the outer circumstances are
not showing up the way we had planned.
Asking the question, "What can be celebrated
here and now?", is a doorway to discover joy and wonder in every
moment.
QUICK LINKS:
COPYRIGHT/CONTACT INFO/REPRINT PERMISSION
Copyright 2009 by Leslie Karen Sann, Living by Design
Visit this link for contact information:
leslie@living-bydesign.com
Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears in full:
Copyright 2009 by Leslie Karen Sann,
Living by Design. All rights reserved.
Web site. http://www.living-bydesign.com
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