Do what you love....

How can you know when something stirs your soul?

To be honest, it's probably a lot like the first time you fell in love. Like maybe you get warm in your chest, or maybe overly emotional, or maybe you just feel like you lose track of time... Or you get done and you want to call your best bud and share about some amazing thing you just created, experienced or helped someone with.

I was looking through photos of my art this afternoon, and came across this photo that I had taken last summer in Ramsey Park. I took tons of photos that day, and realized I hadn't gone back to edit them. I am obsessed with editting photos before public viewing, because I want for the viewer to feel the true essence of the photo, seeing what I see but also conveying an emotion, potentially the same one I'm having in the moment I take a picture.

So I pulled this photo into an editting program fiddled with it, a little bit deeper shadows, brighter highlights, more vibrant colors, warming the colors, centering the focal point... And I just had this thought.......isn't that just a metaphor for what we should do, in life? Deepen your experience through all your senses? When you are in a moment do you pay attention to the things your body tells you? What do you sense? Do you even know when you are in a moment?

I can tell you when I'm deep into painting, or taking photos or editting, I forget what time it is, I forget how long I've done it, I just feel and sense and stay open to all that experience is bringing me. If I go too long without it, I start to get anxious and wonder when I can make time to create. So it's just that maybe. Do more of the stuff that makes you lose track of time. When was the last time you lost yourself in a moment? Is this the same thing that stirs your soul?