Modern life is incredible. We live vastly different lives than people millennia before us — with our access to people, places, information and experiences like never before. Even though I've been on this earth for nearly 50 years, I still marvel at the way it all works. Highway systems, airports and shipping ports all cause me to wonder at the complexity of modern transportation and coordination.
We have access to myriad experiences — in person and also virtual. If we're not aware, our contemporary way of life can keep us feasting on stimulating experiences but not always able to digest them or consider their impact on us. We can easily operate reliant on habit, and we can become detached from rhythms in nature and in our bodies.
For me, that's where allowing time for processing and reflection comes in. I’m not built to live a fast-paced, high-pressure American life. I want my experiences integrated into the whole of my being. I don’t want to feel that I am only reacting to circumstances and demands within each day (which happens sometimes). I want to own the moments as much as possible before moving forward into the next.
On Saturday, I put away our Christmas decorations. Along with the dismantling, I have a tradition of writing a note — reflecting on the Christmas we just had and looking forward to the year ahead. I tuck it in with the notes of years past and the decorations. The following Christmas season, it’s like finding a surprise from myself in the box. I read the note aloud to my family by the tree. It's good to reflect on all that happened in the previous year and how it lined up (or didn't) with what we had anticipated.
It's meaningful for me to reflect and honor dates and phases in the passage of time and to call my family together to share in it. I guess at heart I'm an historian, archivist and story holder.
Another meaningful way I hold stories and reflect is making photo albums. I find that when I sit with printed photos and a blank book, the reflection and gratitude process set in afresh. I look at pictures of joyful times, creative sessions, trips and gatherings and give thanks that life is full and rich — even as I also remember difficulties, stresses and sorrows in some of those same time periods. It makes me pause and recognize that even though we were struggling with this or that, we still got out and enjoyed life.
And of course at the heart of it, I reflect on all the special people who come into our lives and some who have passed out of our lives. There’s a wealth in all those relationships that feeds my spirit. If you and I have spent any time together, it’s very likely that you are in my albums too.
I will always prefer paper and pages over screens. The photo album process moves memories out of virtual space and into physical surface. I have a system down for selecting and ordering photos to print. In some other places we have lived, I used a small locally-owned photo printing shop, but I haven’t found that here. Walgreens Photo and I get along just fine, as I am always looking for their 50% off sales on prints, collages and canvases too.
I've been making albums since junior high, so you can imagine I have a significant photo album library. For some, it might not be a priority, but for me it's reflective, gratitude-enhancing and documentary of the abundance in life. It's fulfilling for me, and we all enjoy referencing the photos, artwork and notes in the albums (OK, maybe not often, but they're there when needed).
I'm in the process of finishing my 2021 pages, and that is gratifying — like a major organization project is finally reaching maintenance phase after playing catch-up for a few years.
Another reflective pastime for me is journaling. Although I don’t always write daily, I've been journaling almost as long as I've been making albums. I have notebooks full of my observations of life and thoughts toward God. That's where songs and poems are also held in between the pages of thankfulness — and anguish too. Again, reflecting and contemplating are important for my digestion of life. As an empath and intuitive, I can't keep going and giving and receiving without taking time to process. It orients me to the Spirit and helps me to spill emotions — especially the hard and confusing ones. Journaling gives me a chance at possibly sorting out those emotions too.
As an essential, reflecting and observing daily in nature make my days feel more spacious. Taking time to be outside and enjoy the simple things quiets down the noise so I can better reflect, process and write. Observing what is around me and seeking nurturing space has been something I’ve been drawn to since I was a child. In college, I would even take my books to nature trails to study and write papers.
I also love to take trips alone — day-trips or a longer, fly-away kind of trip. It’s been a while since I have done a longer get-away, but it always refreshes me to spend time apart with no agenda and no one else’s needs to meet. I have it scheduled weekly to take several hours alone in nature — often at the beach. It doesn’t always work out, but at least I am setting the intention.
We all have our ways to process life. I know not everyone journals or writes, but I do believe it's important to take time to process and reflect alone — not only being reliant on others to process our memories or work through our feelings (although that has its place for me too). When we take time apart, we can sense direction within ourselves that is also guided by the Spirit.
Ultimately, we are all a reflection of God’s Spirit in this world. The more we slow down and tap into that with thankfulness and intention, the more solid we are for what each day offers us — even as we live in this amazing modern world.
Photo spread from 2017 album: Itasca State Park, MN and the Mississippi Headwaters.
Wow--great job on all those albums! According to our oldest's scrapbook, he's only 4 months old. (sigh)
This is such great inspiration to offer myself more time to reflect! Thank you! I like your style - and your pictures! :)