Through the Lens: Photography for Wellbeing

"Mindfulness or being mindful is being aware of your present moment. You are not judging, reflecting or thinking. You are simply observing the moment in which you find yourself." --- Ozzie Gontag Do you find yourself juggling multiple demands on your time or multi-tasking several activities at once? You aren't alone. In this fast-paced world so many people are just trying to keep up. You may find yourself  doing homework while listening to music and texting friends, or at work taking phone calls while answering and sending emails and also jotting down notes about what else you have to do that day. Or you may be engaged in a conversation with someone but your mind is off thinking about the problems from the other day or future tasks you need to complete. It's hard to concentrate on so many things at once and do a stellar job with any of it. A good example is driving while talking on the cell phone or sending text messages. We all know the dangers of that combination....

Buddha told a parable in a sutra: "A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted! "(Reps & Sensaki, 1994, pp. 39-40). I found this parable within an article on the internet called Zen and the Art of Photography by Wayne Rowe. Here is the link if you want to check it out http://www.csupomona.edu/~jis/2001/Rowe.pdf.  This is just what happened for me when I was making this image of this rock sculpture that I found at Kalamalka Lake, BC recently, (well minus...

     Have you ever been so focused on something that you are doing that you forget about everything else? Many people are talking about or writing about the concept of mindfulness and mindfulness is about being fully present in the moment. Our thoughts often take us back to the past or we may worry about the future, all of which take us out of the present moment. In The Power of Now; A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment Eckhart Tolle encourages the reader to "withdraw attention from the past and future whenever they are not needed" (2004, p54-55).  Thoughts about the past or future can often feel good when thinking about positive memories or when looking forward to a fun activity, but if those thoughts are negative it can cause us to feel anxious. A little anxiety is natural. It happens to everyone and can sometimes even be helpful, like being anxious about an upcoming test prompting us to study. But if we are living in the past or future too often, we are not seeing ...

http://community.help-portrait.com/profile/SkyePerry By now you are probably starting to get a sense of how photography can be therapeutic. There are photographers, psychiatrists, therapists, researchers, teachers, journalists, and probably many other disciplines using cameras and photos either as a therapeutic tool or do help others. Photos can tell us a lot. Like the old saying goes,  "A picture is worth a thousand words" (author unknown). Anyway, I'm just heading out to work but I wanted to share a few websites that you can check out to see how some people are using photography to help others. Psychiatrist Joel Walker uses photography in Toronto, Canada to help patients look at themselves and realize their potential. His website is at http://www.portraitsofthehumanspirit.com/. Psychologist Judy Weiser founded the PhotoTherapy Centre in Vancouver, Canada.  In phototherapy sessions with a trained therapist the focus is on snapshots brought in by the client. Ms Weiser tr...

Photography can help you to start seeing things in a new light, which can then open your eyes to new possibilities and perspectives. This happens for me all the time. When my photography instructor assigned a scavenger hunt I was surprised at what I actually discovered and it left me with warm feelings about the community I live in and the goodness of humankind. The assignment was to find 5 items and they had to represent these 5 words; alive, hidden, soft, red, and old. So I went for an early morning drive around town.  I found a lot of beautiful images, especially with that early morning light, but I discovered something deeper; human kindness and generosity. While at an antique machinery park a nice young man showed me around and, not only did I find all sorts of old, unusual and beautiful items to photograph, but the sun shone on spider webs that were hidden in the grass covered in dew. As I was about to step into an old shop the young man stopped me so he could catch a huge ...

I got my first camera when I was a teenager and I took pictures of my friends back then. As a mother I took as many photos of my kids as I could afford to get developed. I had few technical skills, but I loved capturing special moments of my children. I got my first digital camera 10 or 11 years ago, which I've mentioned before, and at that time the sky was the limit. I let go of worry about getting each photograph perfect so as not to waste film or worry about what I took pictures of, and I took thousands of photos. From that time on I continue to photograph family events and places I visit. I met some wonderful people along the way that have become life long friends. I've taken photography lessons through local photographers to help develop my skills and the homework assignments were thought provoking and therapeutic.  Photography has also allowed for creative artistic expression and this has a lot of therapeutic value as well. I highly recommend photography to everyone....