I seem to have fallen into a natural pattern at this blog of posting only once per month, and let me tell you something: It feels good.
It's not as if nothing is happening in my life. I just got back with my family from a beautiful trip to Europe--Prague, the Netherlands, and Bruges--and I took literally thousands of pictures (a tiny handful of which are in this post). I'm still teaching online photography courses pretty much continuously (enrollment for another course has just opened, which you can read about at the bottom of this post and sign up if you like). I've just become vice president of our kids' school's Board of Trustees ("hooray!" and "yikes!" all at once). There's no shortage of things I could share. And yet...
I find myself wanting to keep more of my life close to me. In this ever-louder, over-sharing world, I can feel it in my bones that not everything needs to be said. Despite the Twitter mentality, not everything needs to be shared. Some things are more meaningful with personal reflection instead of public announcements. There is way too much digital clutter. And there is so much untapped beauty to be found in silence and solitude.
My father was a very private, quiet person, happiest when he was reading a book, walking in the woods behind our house, or working alone in his three gardens. He used to go away on annual retreats where the guests would be silent for the whole weekend. This was in the 1970's and as a kid, I was more than a little confused by the concept of silent retreats. Now, I enjoy the same quiet things my father enjoyed, with a camera thrown into the mix.
But it's a lot harder to find silence and solitude these days. When I was in Prague, I woke up at 5:45 am to try to catch the Charles Bridge in the golden light of dawn, before it was filled up with throngs of August tourists (of which I was one!). No such luck. Many other people had the same idea--particularly wedding photographers. In the picture below, if you look closely, you can see a bridal veil being held aloft by a photographer's assistant.
I still share on Instagram daily because it feels mentally good and creatively satisfying for me to select one of my photographs, tune it to my aesthetic standards (I'm tough on myself!), and add it to my "online art gallery" with a little caption. (This is called "micro-blogging" and I can see why it's caught on: less effort, less noise, more beautiful images shared.)
I now own three books with "silence" in the title:
- Silence: How to Find Inner Peace in a Busy World by Christina Feldman
- Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Listening Below the Noise: The Transformative Power of Silence by Anne D. LeClaire
I highly recommend all of them. I highly recommend adding more and more silence to your days. Try it and see if it feels really good to you, too.
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Before you go...
Enrollment is now OPEN for my October 2017 photography e-course, Beyond Auto Mode: How to Really Work Your DSLR Camera. Join me and let's work through your camera questions together! Click here to read all of the course details. If you're on Instagram, you can take $10 off via the link on my Instagram page (I'm @joy_sussman).
© 2017 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com LLC. All rights reserved. All photos and text digitally fingerprinted and watermarked. Please do not use any photographs without asking me first for permission at [email protected] and then clearly linking back to this site with photo credits. Site licensed by Creative Commons.
