My best friend, Sue, and I recently went away for 4 days to Gatlinburg, TN for some R&R. We have really been working hard and needed some time to sharpen the sword and rest the mind. I've been meaning to get some of my Deepak books read lately, but haven't had time. In preparation for the trip I ordered some Deepak books on CD. This way we could listen and absorb while we were spending the 6 hrs each way driving....
One of the things that he talked a lot about was being in the present. Being in this exact moment. Too often we spend a lot of energy thinking about the way we should have presented ourselves, what we should have said during that arguement or sales pitch, what we could have done.... blah blah blah.
One of the analogies he gave was that of taking a photo..... We could be living in the moment, enjoying the quiet of a nature stream (which I enjoyed many of on that trip), watching our children laugh and play, etc. When we break out the camera and snap that photo we have stepped out of the present and into the past. We try to use that photograph to hold onto the past. Sure, we want to have photos of our trip and our children's growing up years, but in those moments that we look at them we are in the past and not the future. Even in the moment we are taking the photos we are not in the now... we are projecting ourselves into the potential future of looking at the past.
When we take the photo we are behind the camera, looking through the lenses (or view screen) instead of being in the moment and looking at the moment with our own eyes. As an avid scrapbooker and photo taker, I can say that I have on many occassions been guilty of this. (Including on this last trip.) One song that has recently stuck in my head as I take the photos now - thank you Deepak & John Mayer - is 3x5. I think that this song sums up the thoughts of what Deepak has to say about this....
I'm writing you to
catch you up on places I've been
And you have this letter
you probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way with words
TODAY skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliche'
And its strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
NO more 3x5's
I Guess you had to be there
I Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to
lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
no more 3x5's
just no more 3x5's
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. She now operates as the CEO of First Impressions Home Staging & Interior ReDesign as well as an instructor for Staging And Resign and regularly speaks at the StagerList Expos and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.822.2622 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
If you would like Marro's team to provide information on staging a property in the state of South Carolina, or the Greater Charleston Area, please visit www.WeStageSC.com, email marro.melissa@gmail.com or call 843.822.2622.
Melissa - This is one of the things that I try to teach the kids every day. We take advantage of every situation to create our own fun.
You make an excellent point, I'm still a little disappointed that my husband watched me walk down the aisle thru the viewfinder of his video camera when we married last summer. That was a day to be in the moment like none other
PS, thanks for adding the song to your post
Thanks for sharing Melissa. It can be hard sometimes because I am always thinking forward but it is very important to be present in the moment as well.
I am been more conscious of trying to live in the present because I have not done that well...either thinking of the could have beens or trying to foresee the future. There is more peace in the present.
Melissa...I love this post and the song really says it all. I never thought about photographs that way and it is so true. It is such a challenge to stayin the present. I have not read any of Deepak's writings yet but am now reading A New Earth and LOVE it.