Lately, this has been my current thought.... instead of capturing the moment, live in THIS moment. I'm hoping I'll be doing more of this in 2018. I'm sure if my husband is reading this, he'll hold me accountable - he's good like that.
Do we remember when our kids took their first step? Maybe not, but that video we took, did. And aren't we glad we took that video anyway? - to share with our friends and family, and maybe to show our kids when they're older, and probably because in that moment, we didn't consciously think to ourselves, I want to live this moment. Do you remember the feelings that went with that moment in the video or photo? Maybe. Maybe not.
With smart phones these days (I currently have 8624 photos an 1452 videos on my iPhone! yes totally guilty of capturing a LOT of moments!!), it's impossible not to try and capture every moment - I mean, that's the base selling point of any camera device, right? But what about living the moment or this one right now? What feelings are coming up for your right now? Photos don't capture feelings, they capture a memory and the feelings come from that memory.
Wanna know something else? Memories apparently change! I have been reading a book "the subtle art of not giving a f*#$" by Mark Manson, and the chapter I've just been reading tells me that our memory changes all the time - what?! So, what we remembered in that moment, we remember it differently later on, and we'll remember it differently again later on - kinda like Chinese wispers.... Intersting, huh?
Sure we enjoy watching videos of our kids and capturing images of them in that moment when they were being cute, funny, or just rascals, but I think it's also important to be mindful in choosing those moments and to just watch them and really FEEL the experience in that moment and if you want to remember it (for the days you know you'll get old and get dementia and perhaps the times we want to remember that our kids can be cute and adorable), write it down in a journal, so you can actually remember the memory and feelings of that moment.
Now I'm not saying don't capture any moments, because one of the things I loved most (in that moment) was looking through photo albums of my grandmother when she was younger (She's 90 now) but I didn't realise how much travel she had done previously and was so grateful for learning more about her life.
But when was the last time you went through and looked at every one of those 8000+ photos? Are you living in this moment, right now?
