Where does your joy come from?
How do you protect it?
Do you have a regular connection to it?
Can you access it easily?

I’m not talking about fleeting pleasures or the thrill of short-lived excitement. I mean the kind of joy that’s deeply rooted, built on appreciation, awareness, and inner satisfaction.

The damn dandelions are back, multiplying en masse across the entire yard, hiding from the lawn mower, pulled out only to return fivefold the next week.

At a sweat lodge ceremony a few years ago, I was given a ritual to conduct on my property and told, “The land will start speaking to you. Just watch.” And it truly did.

I was really into reading about plant consciousness at the time and would look up the spiritual symbolism and medicinal properties of every plant that popped up. It’s been said that nature provides the remedy.

Being self-employed is no cake walk. Yes it has many, many perks (no Sunday Scaries) but it also means seeing through your own bullshit and calling yourself out. Recognizing your personal patterns and how it affects your business.

This lichen, or forest seaweed as I like to call it, was attached to a tree and only measured a few inches. I didn’t even notice this tiny bug until I uploaded the images. Entirely other worlds exist when you slow down and use a new lens. Both in photography and life.

Photography has allowed me to see the things that sometimes disappear. When we stop paying attention to the beautiful minutia in the rush of daily living. I imagine life used to be slower at one time, but now it’s up to us to focus our attention and choose #slowliving. My camera helps me to do this.