Day 9-15 Reflection: 30 Day Sunrise Challenge
Day 9-15 of my 30 Day Sunrise Challenge. Since day one which I began January 3rd, I’ve experienced a whirl-wind of change in a variety of spaces and places. There’s been an overflow of emotions, ideas, reflections and somewhat of a dance, both mental and physical, and in a sense, spiritual. As for me, the act of writing, at least that of a personal nature, has always been somewhat of a spiritual practice among other things, for it requires a brief slowing down of your personal tempo in order to tune in to the speed at which your thoughts are pulsing, and then requires you to slow down even more to be able to process those thoughts into words and then press or burn them into whatever type of material you may be working with. I started this challenge while on vacation, not knowing exactly where it would go. I realized immediately that to publish a written blog with full-blown video and photos everyday is difficult, especially if I want to really develop an idea and story and delve into something a little deeper than the surface. Also, I realized that one sunrise is enough to inspire months of material, stories, and realizations. On top of all that, I have a full time job, family, and dozens of projects going on at all times. So long story short, we’ve seen 15 sunrises straight, and I have a good ten stories in queue, and I’m going to breathe, slow down, and focus on publishing at least one written musing a week accompanied by multimedia from everyday. It's been a joy participating in this self-challenge, having my son Ocean with me the whole way; he's really into it and has motivated me on whole new level.
Quick list of take-aways:
Regardless of what you challenge yourself to do, any change in habit no matter how small is enough to impact your entire life.
Reflection is at the center of all learning and development. It’s the one ingredient in life that adds significance, meaning and understanding to what would otherwise just be passing moments and experiences. It is what can turn a thunderous rain storm into a rainbow and can be applied everywhere.
The ability to listen to others, requires the practice of listening to yourself first. Your connection with others can only be as deep as the connection you have within yourself. In a culture where we’ve invented 10,001 distractions, and have the ability to stay “connected” with our friends and families at every waking moment via technology, it’s become harder and harder to be with ourselves and not feel like something is wrong or have the need to check our phones or call or text someone. The great paradox of our time is, although we have the ability to connect with others at every waking moment, the mere act of trying to stay connected with others all the time can actually isolate us even more and keep us from making deeper and more meaningful connections with both ourselves and others. 10,001 fragmented connections don't add up to one real, quality face-to-face connection.
Ancient Smile up close & personal
Slow-Mo Frolic
#sunrisechallenge #manatee #slowmotion #DSLR #reflections #morningmeditation