On Changing Perspective

Tags

inner change, perspective, photography, spirituality, walking

What a difference a week can make!

This Friday, as i begin my weekly walk on the school campus, the Sun is already cresting the trees, as I approach the trail from a distance. The one-hour shift of the clocks last Sunday has created a totally different perspective for my walk. I have gone from starting my walk just as the sun would be rising, to walking in full daylight.

Even though the intensity of the morning light is different in the waking and walking hour, some things haven’t changed. The welcoming embrace of the lake and the trees, the wetness of the grass, the dramatic colors of the leaves that are on the trees and the ground, the raucous warnings of the blue-jays, the groups of ducks swimming in the water as they keep an eye on how close I get to the shore. And so on.

And yet, somehow, the nature of the light — sometimes soft, sometimes harsh; sometimes silvery, sometimes golden; sometimes enhancing the brilliant colors, sometimes casting long shadows — makes me think about the importance of perspective.

The nature of external light, of its source, doesn’t change from day to day, season to season, year to year. What really changes is how we see things, particularly familiar things. A different day, a different hour, gives us the opportunity to change our focus, our framing of the subject, our cropping (removing things from our field of consideration), and our composition (all that we want to include) and perhaps most importantly – our perspective of light.

Yes, I am leaning heavily on the language of photography because it is something that I engage in regularly. Playing with light and perspective on the outside has often helped me to ask questions of myself. What if I was to change my perspective on a certain matter, particularly on one that regularly creates inner disturbances? What if I were to do a full 180 turn from the ‘long shadow’ side and look at the ‘light side’ of a matter? Could I gain some inner peace, create acceptance and regain vital energy by changing my perspective?

In my waking and walking experiences, revising perspective isn’t merely about changing my mind, my thoughts or my actions. Perspective is about acknowledging the light and its source, being grateful for its constant and accessible presence, and allowing it to soften the heart enough so that we can see our Self with new eyes.

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly Twitter chat, Sunday Nov 14 at 9am EST / 730pm India. We will discuss perspective and all the new possibilities it can create for us. Namaste. – @AjmaniK

Framing, composition, focus, lighting and perspective- they all define how and what we ‘see’, don’t they?

A live recording from the walk… sharing a new perspective on where #SpiritChat topics come from…

Reframe. Receive. Rejoice!

Tags

holidays, photography, spiritchat, spiritual

Some of you may know that I tend to take a lot of photographs with my phone when I am walking the forest. Over time, I have learnt the importance of ‘framing’ the scene properly. Proper framing – and reframing when necessary – often provides better perspective for the photographer. In digital photography, attention to framing is perhaps becoming a lost art because snapshotters feel that they can ‘crop’ or edit out the unwanted parts of the photo later. My proposition is that it is better to slow down, take time to (re)frame the scene properly. Reframing avoids clutter – both in photography and in life situations.

Once we learn to reframe our situation, we allow for FUD to dissipate from out life. What is FUD? Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. FUD is supplied to us from various sources – sometimes even from those whom we know and trust. They may do it inadvertently, without even knowing that their propensity for FUD is clouding our heart’s viewfinder, and preventing us from seeing what we need to see. They are showing us what they think is ‘beneficial’ for us. They truly do believe that they know what is best for us. As you gather with friends and family over the next few weeks, observe the FUD dispensers. And carry some ‘cleaning cloths’ for those times when the frame gets really dirty…

After the appropriate framing, we may need to adjust our camera’s aperture (opening) to receive the proper amount of light. This setting is also called ‘exposure’. Again, with digital software, we can ‘correct’ the exposure ‘after the fact’, after the photo is taken. But we may save ourselves a lot of unnecessary angst in life if we ‘receive the correct amount of light’ to begin with. Over- or under-exposure to life’s situations often waste our precious mental and spiritual resources to fix the situation ‘after the fact’. We may even have to return to reframing! With proper tools and training, we can learn to receive the appropriate ‘light’ and energy to move to the next step along our path, at the precise time that we need it. Just in time receiving!

So, we have framed properly and received the correct amount of light on our camera’s sensor. What’s next? If we had managed to hold the camera perfectly still, whle having kept proper focus, it may be time to rejoice! Reframing and receiving help us create a joy-filled awareness of time and space. We admit the possibility to recreate a moment of joy every time we reframe a negative situation. We have the potentiality to recreate joy when we open ourselves to new light, and shadows.

In reframing, receiving and rejoicing, we can recognize, reduce and eventually remove the fear, uncertainty and doubt that hold back our spiritual progress.

What situation or relationship can you reframe in your life today? How can you adjust your life’s input filters to receive the proper light and guidance? Are you ready to rejoice, to find joy in the moment, through reframing and receiving? Pause and examine. The answers may perhaps be the best gifts you can give to yourself.

Namaste,

Kumud

Join us Sunday, December 18th at 9amET/2pmUTC in #SpiritChat on twitter – we will reframe, receive, rejoice and reduce FUD 🙂

Original View of the Rocky River (Fall 2016)

Reframed View of the Rocky River (Fall 2016)