Too often we start with seeing what is wrong with this world.
We wallow in ‘what’s wrong.’
We need to instead ‘celebrate what’s right with the world.’
And adopt this as our perspective. Our frame of focus.
The lights dimmed after his introductory remarks. Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top freelance photographers. He has worked for the National Geographic magazine for 20 years. He is the author of nine books on nature and leadership. And he’s an inspirational speaker.
Hundreds of us sat, hushed, in the dark, awaiting light to be beamed from three large projection screens. He then flashed up a photograph.
See this untamed field of green, dotted by bright yellow dandelions.
This is the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia.
I was dialed in. Selkirk Mountains. My mountains. My British Columbia. My Canada. What were the odds that he would have picked this shot and this story?
I should have been ecstatic.
Despite nature’s obvious beauty, I wasn’t in the seize-the-day kind of mood.
I couldn’t get the perfect shot.
Feeling uninspired, I decided to come back the next day.
When I returned, I was disheartened to find that the vibrant yellow specks had aged into drab puffs.
I was just about to leave when a little voice in my head said,
‘What’s there to celebrate? What’s right with the situation?’
Soon I was on the ground, rolling among the puffballs.
I was taking pictures from every direction – above, underneath, to my left, to my right.
Jones advances the frame to show the audience the photograph that NatGeo had selected for publication. He has transformed the “drab” field of aged puff balls into the “puff ball” dandelion photograph above. The audience murmurs with delight.
We think: ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’
Instead we should be thinking: ‘I see it because I believe it.’
Life is not about finding the one ‘right answer’ to the question:
‘Did you get the perfect shot?’
That’s the wrong question.
You need to lose the fear.
You need to shake the thoughts of scarcity.
You need to reframe the situation and adopt the mindset of possibility and opportunity.
And you will lose the fear of mistakes and setbacks.
Life is about continuing to the next right answer,
believing there’s more than one right answer.
The difference between a good frame and a great frame is measured in millimeters, not miles.”
He outlines his four steps to finding the right answer:
First, train your technique,
then put yourself in the place of most potential,
stay open to possibilities
and finally focus the vision by celebrating what’s right with the situation.
I keep at it until I find something that I fall in love with.
Then I use the energy to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.
That’s the moment that I fall in love with.
He closed with a quote. I googled it later in the day to find the source. It was from a beautiful poem by Robinson Jeffers titled The Excesses of God:
Is it not by his high superfluousness we know Our God?
I’ve look up the word ‘superfluousness.’
I then read.
And re-read Jeffers’ poem.
Five times. Six times. Seven times.
Tension slowly building after each reading. (Why can’t I fully understand these words.)
Then I reflect on Dewitt.
And let it all go.
There is no right answer.
Life is believing there is more than one right answer.
Find the beauty in the moment you fall in love with and let it pull you along.
Credits:
- Dewitt Jones on Wiki. On Facebook. Find daily inspirations and photographs on his website or his blog.
- Photograph: “Puffball” @ DewittJones.com
- Robinson Jeffers full poem “The Excesses of God” – Is it not by his high superfluousness we know our God?
- Post also inspired by a passage in Adam Begley’s Novel, Updike: “The city (NYC), E. B. White rhapsodized in 1948, “is like poetry. . . . The island of Manhattan is without any doubt the greatest human concentrate on earth, the poem whose magic is comprehensible to millions of permanent residents but whose full meaning will always remain elusive.”
Live & Learn 
Wow
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A wow for me too…
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Yes – “… see the extraordinary in the ordinary.” I really liked all of this, David. Thank you.
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Thank you Carol. It left an indelible mark on me too.
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Beautiful in so many ways, from so many angles. We all face our catch-22 experiences – do you believe and then it appears, or must it appear before you believe? And gosh, when you have your camera handy, and you know how to use it, amazing things happen. I call it “working it” – you have to be high, low, right, left, with the light, against the light, look for details… Shoot the heck out of the moment. it’s not easy, but it’s worth it. If all else is the same in a given magical place & time, the only difference between a pro and an amateur is the # of shots taken & what is shared with others. And “working it” can only be done alone – doing it with friends, family, fellow travelers – they have no patience for the time it takes to find that diamond in the sane (in my experience.) Thanks for sharing, and for that great quote about God, too. 🙂
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Thanks Maureen and thanks for sharing your thoughtful insight. I too believe that often times working it can only be done alone…
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Awesome… reminded me of the post Make the Ordinary Come Alive
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Thanks Perpetua. Do you have the link?
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You are welcome.
http://3psbyseeker.com/2014/02/13/make-the-ordinary-come-alive-2/
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“There is no right answer.
Life is believing there is more than one right answer.
Find the beauty in the moment you fall in love with and let it pull you along.” Awesome!
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Thank you Teela.
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A perfect addition to a Sunday afternoon. As I read it again…and again…I think I shall repost it. You are adding to my garden of the world. And I thank you for it.
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Thank you for the kind words Claudia and thank you for sharing.
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Reblogged this on Humoring the Goddess and commented:
My thoughts were in a muddle today…then I read David’s blog. I so agree with everything he said that I’m reposting. Have a beautiful Sunday. And Every Day.
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Great post! I love the photo and messages.
Russ
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Thank you Russ.
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i love this very much.
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Thank you Beth.
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Wu-Wei and my friend Robert…
http://thewayoftheflower.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/letting-life-unfold/
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Thanks for sharing Sandy. I’m on my way to check it out.
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There is no right answer. This is a beautiful post.
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Thank you Carolann. It was a special presentation and now vivid memory.
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I wonder what happens to the intensity of our stress if we truly embrace the rightness of this philosophy, accept that there is no right answer (or many right answers) and really let it go. I’ll try if you try…you first.. 😉
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Ok. I’m going to try. Starting today.
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Good – let me know how you did..
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of course, and in 10 years I may have inched forward. Got it.
On Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 4:41 AM, Live & Learn wrote:
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Very good advice! 🙂 I like the ‘I see it because I believe it.’ It’s not easy to do that, but I have found that works when I have managed to maintain that kind of thinking. I guess none of us bloggers ever doubted we were actually capable of creating a blog, because if we had, we wouldn’t have even started it. It proves to me that what you believe you are capable of – you are, it really might be that simple. And our worries and concerns just get in that way most of the time. 🙂
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So true Suzy. Especially your comments around belief around producing a blog. On point.
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