The world is different today.

The world is different today.  It is aware of the hurt, it is aware of repercussions, it is aware of the need for change.  This day is different.   It has the ability to be a day when we take a stand for the injustice and infuse a new level of kindness into our lives. Today is a fresh start, it is an opportunity and today is a blank canvas that the world can write change on.      

When the choice to be strong is taken away from you, an inner revelation begins to occur.  The discovery of an unknown source of strength filters through your thoughts and actions.  It inspires hope and pulls together broken piece in an effort to prove something/someone wrong.

This strength could be seen in the solidarity that was felt on social media yesterday, in an almost tangible way.  The world faces a future that we have the power to change by continuing that solidarity and beginning to change the way we think and react to those around us. The disasters in the world and the overwhelming heartache that occurs daily, but was highlighted yesterday, give us, as members of humanity a choice to respond.  We are in need of new strength.  We are in need of so much more than just kindness but it is a good place to start.

In this world we suffer and we strive for things that bring us purpose, often at the expense of people. But what the world doesn't seem understand is that kindness takes courage but has the potential to change lives, and doesn't cost a thing.


This immense pain that echoes with fear, leaves us feeling broken, but we not destroyed, we are hurt, but we are resilient.  The beautiful thing about people is their ability to find strength in the weakest of places.   

Martin Luther King Jr said it best, " Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

We on our own strength can't commit to love everyday.   We aren't programmed to be able to do that effortlessly. But, we have the ultimate example of love in Jesus who shows us unending, undeserved love.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but come through continuous struggle. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Power of Focus

I want to address "focus."  It is a term we throw around in life and in photography (I am in charge of the obvious today). It is a word that defines a good photo, or a good work ethic. We focus on the task at hand, focus on driving, focus on our problems, on success, on our families, our friends, our significant others.... focus is a great thing.   It allows what is most important in our lives to take center stage and the other things to fade into the background.  

I realised today as I was sitting in a coffee shop that I live most of my life lately extremely focused.   Much like a camera in "auto focus"  I find the things closest to me to focus on not realising that life is happening in the background. In a very determined manner I grabbed my coffee and sat down on a pale green bench facing the outside world.  It was only after a very sweet looking older gentleman with a walker, mentioned to me that I was "working hard" that I looked up.  I realised in that moment that I was hyper focussed.  I need to learn to widen my focus.  Doing so wouold allow me to become aware of the life that was being lived infront of me, and open me up to possibly blessing those around me, like that older gentlemen, with a kind word or smile.   

I think this realisation has been brewing for a while, because I had inclings of it as I hiked the other day.   When I hike, I power hike.  I put on my determination and b-line it up all the hills.    I waste no time, because in my mind I think a good hill is a hill I'm on top of.  I rarely stop to enjoy the scenery or the viewpoints because my focus takes over and I am determined to overcome this here mountain.  

I focus so much that I live my life looking down, watching my feet, watching my phone, watching my computer....This kind of focus can be so great but it also can become a crutch or a handicap.  It prohibits encounters with the unplanned or the people that enter our lives.   

So here is the challenge:  

Take a second.   Take a deep breath.   And take in all your surroundings...  become aware of the people in your life that you've allowed to slip into the background and adjust your focus for a moment.    This perspective will do nothing but bless you and those around you. 

Lessons about Truth.

I woke up this morning spinning.  The truth is, I should have probably stopped 3 red solo cups of wine earlier.   So as my feet hit the ground I regretted everything instantaneously.  My head was spinning, the lack of food in my stomach made me feel weak, and I felt like everything was moving in slow-mo. "I am pretty sure this is what a zombie feels like", I thought as I forced my feet forward,   nearly dead on the inside and dead-looking on the outside.  It was one of those mornings that you really wished you could sleep through.

I stumbled upon a meme the other day, it was talking about how there should be gold stars for university students... they'd say " Good for you, you finished that paragraph"  or "Good for you, you washed your hair today!"   I feel like there should be gold stars like that for simply being an adult and dealing with adult things.   I have to keep telling myself " Good for you Alexa, you put pants on today..."  Or "You ate half a cookie!  Well done," because life is hard, and sometimes you need all the encouragement you can get.

Fast forward 4 hours, I am sitting a work with washed hair, clean clothes and makeup on.  (That's at least 4 gold stars!)   I'm pondering what this day will look like... and what sort of surprises await me.   I sit with myself and search for that inner peace, and strain to hear for the voice of truth speaking into my life.

I read the First 15 devotional almost everyday, and today it talks about truth.   We believe things to be true about ourselves - things that we filter through our own skewed human perspective.   But I believe that God wants us to believe things to be true about ourselves by solely filtering them through His eyes. With that Godly perspective anything is possible.

How to be still

When was the last time you were still?   

Or the last time you quieted your thoughts and worries, and just rested?  

This world spins faster and faster and toils more and more with each passing day. In such a fast paced world we are fuelled by deadlines, requirement and problems that need to be solved on the fly. These ingredients don’t make for a peaceful planet, or peace-filled people.   

What do you do when life starts to combust and the frustrations of life wear you down?    I watched a video by Dale Partridge (link below)  this morning and the last 1 minute or so he explains the importance of slowing down. I believe it is in the recovery period of out sprint to "the life we want" that we find peace, and contentment and real life.   Striving is great, but it puts our bodies into a perpetual state of restlessness.  I believe it is in our still moments that we hear God's gentle voice, and feel his guiding hand on our lives.   We are inundated with things, and wishes and wants to a point that we are too distracted to recognize our lives are wasting away.  

I wrote about two years ago, " ...I think that I crave the endlessness of the ocean, and the majesty of mountains, or the expanse of the stars when life becomes a series of pressure points and stresses.   There is something about feeling small in the midst of nature's grandeur that reminds us that our problems, often in the grand scheme of things, are small too.  I ache right now for the serenity that I know the rocky jagged peaks of mountains can offer, to rediscover the tranquility of the sea lapping on the sandy shore, or to feel fresh air rush past my body and fill my empty lungs. There is something simple and uncomplicated in being under a canvas of stars, even though their twinkling constellations ignite finite questions."

"...I am guilty of looking at life the wrong way.   I see this chapter in the book of time almost like a holding tank while I am preparing for "real life"  but that is scary mentality to have.  We are constantly hoping and striving for more, for better.... for the next best thing.   Contentment is a dying art.   If it isn't appreciating the Iphone 4 that's in your hand because there exists a better, faster, shinier model, or the ability to take a breath and enjoying this moment however uncomfortable or stressful it is because of the anticipation for the next thing, we will live our lives without ever appreciating what we actually have.   All we have is this moment right now. I am guilty of always wondering if there will be something better around the corner...  that curiosity however, seems to only extend as far as what I "can control." I don't want to always be searching.  It is exhausting to turn over every rock, and to look into every cranny.  So despite the unknowns, despite the worries, and fears or curiosity of something more... I want to choose to appreciate right now."

Apparently this search for peace is a common one for me.   Life is hard - no matter how hard to try to control it, it is a wild beast that will not be tamed.   We tend to hold on to things that will fade, or change, or grow, and try to tell them to stay the same.  But our reality on this earth is that we have 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 365 days in a year.   There is a moment in between each other those milestone where we get to start again.   

https://www.facebook.com/DaleJPartridge/videos/1674328366117596/ 

Good things take time.

We walked on a carpet of yellow leaves.  I was wearing my peacoat and a very positive attitude.   As the fragrance of fall filled my lungs,  I enjoyed the moments where peace settled as the sun streamed through the falling leaves.   All was calm.   Then in a moment, you grabbed my hand and the colour seem brighter, and the fragrance sweeter.  How do you do that?   

It's walks like those that I start to compile analysis of myself.  I search the inner most part of my being for flaws and struggle to find solutions to the "problems." I am a complicated being.  I strive for perfection in most areas of my life, and likewise wish it upon imperfect people in my life.   But the reality is that no one can come close.  We are dominated by selfishness and insecurities that stack weight on our shoulders that we perceive as a shield.  But what would happen if in those moments of searching for the fabled perfection, we search for our humanity instead and shrug off the weight of perfection. Perhaps the realization that perfect doesn't exist is a healthy one.   I am realizing that this search for perfection hurts more than it does help.   I have pushed away so many things because of this impossible quest.  

As the leaves leave the trees to find their rest at the base of what was once their home, the season is about to change again.  But each year and each season the trees get stronger and bare more fruit than the last.   Good things take time, and perfection is a false ideology and goal that wastes precious time.  

hope for tomorrow

We tend to try to safeguard against hurt. We put up barriers, and pray that they withstand life. But sometimes life forces itself through all our precautions and suddenly a storm encircles you. I somehow I managed to weather the worst storm of my life. I survived it. I came out the other end, and feel stronger, wiser, and older. I know now that storms sometimes are followed by mini storms that shake an already weary spirit. My faith in life had felt destroyed. But the realization that, I am fortunate to know that my faith isn't in life, it's in the creator of it. That knowledge, as strong as it is, isn't always reflected in my ability to cope. There are days when I desperately want to pack all my things up and move to Mexico, or just escape- somehow even for a little bit. Looking back on this year I can't believe how wildly life has shaken me. I can't believe how much the shine has worn off, and I now find myself discovering a slight bitter taste in my mouth. That sensation isn't one that my spirit defaults to, but I feel like it's the result of being kicked down so many times. Despite that, I keep picking myself up and brushing the hurt off, but man, it wears you down. I don't want to be bitter. I don't want to resent things in life, or feel like all the beautiful things have lost there beauty somehow but man life is hard sometimes. 

But you carry on and press on with hope for a brighter tomorrow, and more often than not the brighter tomorrow brings some reprieve from the storms rough winds.

Maybe the most important tid-bit in this is that my faith isn't in life, it is in its creator, the sustainer and perfecter of all things.   Life is hard sometimes, but there is always hope for tomorrow.  

Learning to drive

Learning to drive standard has unearthed similarities to learning how to sing.  When I would be instructed to "feel" my way to understanding a broad concept through descriptions I didn't full comprehend or understand, I felt compelled to critically examine the ideas and force my way into understanding.   I have learned however, that sometimes, it is when we force understanding that we grind gears, lurch forward and stall.  I believe that a lot of learning is trusting your instincts and doing our best to not over examine.  This tendency in myself,  is the underlying reason for my failed attempts yesterday, to move forward in traffic, during rush hour, on the busiest street in Vernon.   As my face flushed as red as my little Echo hatchback,  the knots in my stomach tightened as I lurched forward in a most ungraceful way in front of countless strangers.   This performance anxiety was nearly debilitating.  

I spent the last four years over analyzing myself and discovering the deepest cracks and forms of weakness in myself as I strived for perfection.   So often we don't allow ourselves to be beginners - or even amateurs.   We see the bar raised by those around us and expect to somehow bypass the learning stage, and the seemingly right of passage to fail frequently in the beginning.   But I am discovering it is in those failures that we learn the most about ourselves, and our tendencies.   I discovered today after forcing myself to drive to work, that the errors I made yesterday were little and easily corrected.    My blood pressure still rises at the thought of making my way home, but the small victories are badges of honour that I need to wear more proudly as I discover my ability to drive standard.

Life is a learning process... no one enters this life a professional human being.  Everyone is figuring things out as they go.  The key is to never stop learning in our successes and our failures.