Sunday Photo/Art Quote – Do It
Ever talked yourself out of doing something?
You know. You want to try something new or exciting of different and the little voices start the Yam Yam Yammering away inside your brain with all the reasons something may not be a good idea. People won’t like it. It won’t turn out the way you think. It’s a waste of time. Yam, Yam and more Yam!
Turn the circus off. (more on How to do that in a moment!)
Right now lets turn to the quote of the day that inspired this post…
“If you don’t do it, you don’t know what might happen.” Harry Callahan
Harry Callahan was a photographer inspired to pursue his career by a talk given by Ansel Adams. He was first and foremost an educator only producing about a half dozen finished images a year…
How to Quiet the Yam Yam Yam
Slow down.
Meditate.
Take time to practice meditation. The brain’s job, in addition to maintaining our living functions like breathing and heartbeat, is to create thoughts. Lots of thoughts. A real, lot, whole bunch of thoughts that can crowd our mind and create noise. (that was the circus I was referring to earlier) When the noise is on and you can’t concentrate then any thought that comes through, usually negative thoughts, can keep us from trying new things.
Meditation allows us to practice allowing those thoughts to move through without grabbing our full attention allowing us to concentrate on the things that can actually be of help. Whenever I suggest this there’s an almost immediate plethora of excuses , “But Bob, I can’t meditate, I don’t have time.” “I can never get my mind to calm down!” “I just can’t get the hang of it..” And all of those excuses are true until you begin the practice of meditation.
Have you ever learned to do anything without some training? And practice? And failure along the way? Of course not. Meditation is the same. Learn. Study. Practice and meditation will help you also. One book I found to be helpful is “Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabot-Zin Easy read. Easy practice from someone who has been studying the mental and physical health benefits of meditation for many years.
Don’t let the naysayer of your brain keep you from pushing boundaries.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – This meditation stuff can help make you healthier too! Let me know how it works for you…
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