Layers of Awareness

The present moment is always alive

I usually share photos only in black and white. Color can be a distraction; it tells your brain what to focus on before you truly notice the details. In black and white, you have to slow down and look past the surface to see, for example, the frog blending into the background.
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So why am I including both photos today?

Because the present moment is always alive, and sometimes you need the full picture to truly recognize what is right in front of you.

Look at the black-and-white photo first to notice the shapes and details. Then view the color photo to see the bright green duckweed and the frog's amber eye. The scene itself doesn't change, but how you see it does.

It's easy to cruise through the day on autopilot, treating our surroundings like background noise. But when you stop, slow down, and focus on exactly where you are, the world opens up.

My son and I were walking across a small bridge over a creek near the Boise River Greenbelt when I took this photograph many years ago. If we hadn't stopped to really look down into the water, we would have missed this frog entirely.

Because we slowed down to look, I can still recall that exact moment clearly, even after all these years. Special moments with our children don't require elaborate plans; they happen in the simplest places when we're fully present. We walk past these opportunities every day because our minds are elsewhere.

​There is so much life happening in the quiet, ordinary spaces of our journey. You just have to pause long enough to notice it.