For just over seven years, I’ve had a daily (morning) practice of yoga.
Over time it’s evolved to include meditation at the beginning, and simply giving thanks. All the latter involves is verbalising (at least in my head) five things I’m thankful for at the end of the yoga.
Others call this kind of act “daily gratitudes” and I’ve found it helps me greatly in staying humble and thankful for all the amazing things I have in my life, and all I’m able to do.
I’ve realised that photography also plays a fundamental part in this giving of thanks.
35hunter is a log of my adventures, “hunting for beauty and balance, camera in hand“.
The reason I seek beauty – and try to capture it with a camera – is to remind myself (and then others, via sharing it) that despite all the chaos and destruction we hear about in the world, there is still breath-taking beauty if we look for it.
And it’s usually much closer than we think.
So making these photographs becomes a way of acknowledging and giving thanks for the beauty around me too.
What does photography enable you to do? Please let us know in the comments below.
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[…] recent post I wrote about gratitude is one of the most open and heartfelt I’ve shared on 35hunter to date. It has precisely zero […]
Hi Dan. I hadn’t noticed this post before, but it’s fascinating and very timely. As I mentioned in a comment elsewhere, rather than resolutions for 2018, I have a word for the year. That word is “Joy”. However experiencing joy in all circumstances is very, very difficult – I’m learning already that sometime you have to work hard for it and face up to things that you’d rather not. I am convinced, however, that the key to joy is gratitude – to be thankful for what we have. I’m a Christian and the apostle Paul speaks very clearly of this in his letter to the Philippians. I’m paraphrasing massively, but he knew suffering yet wrote that joy was possible in all circumstances through thanksgiving and a positive attitude. There’s a great TED talk on the same subject by David Stendl-Rast. Well worth looking up if you haven’t seen it. In the context of photography, that means two things to me. Firstly being grateful for the equipment I have (some of which I have been blessed with by other people. Secondly, it means using my cameras to get out in this amazing world, to capture images of it and to share that joy with others.
Yeh Richard I agree, gratitude is fundamental. If we don’t appreciate what we have, we’re constantly looking for more, and never satisfied.
I agree too that Joy can only really arrive if some kind of gratitude is already present. Joy is like a supercharged version of gratitude!
All the best for bringing more joy into your life in the coming year.
[…] door frame. Since October 2010 I’ve practiced 20 minutes of yoga every morning combined with daily gratitudes. I do seven pull ups every time I walk past the bedroom. I’m experimenting with […]
[…] the practice has evolved – I currently include daily gratitudes, pull ups and push ups in the routine – that core daily discipline has […]