Capturing Moments in Time

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh

Why capture moments in time? They give us enjoyable memories that satisfy and rejuvenate the soul. Moments frozen in time that are so strong they stay with us all our lives.

I have Bing wallpaper on my desktop — exploring the world one photo at a time. I like it, these daily photos are beautiful, and they do capture moments in time, but they are not “my moments in time”; they belong to the people who were there taking those photos.

To capture a moment in time, you have to “get in there,” walk around in it, feel the mist coming from the waterfall, and breathe in the mineral and earth aroma-filled air near the water and shoreline. Touch the tree bark, and sit down on a large rock on the bank of a quiet area of a river, skipping rocks across the surface of the water.

Vacations are a great time to capture your moment, but you don’t even have to wait for that. For example, I sometimes take a day and go with my son to a nearby local lake to go fishing. I intentionally do specific things to capture those moments and rarely take a photo.

We go early in the morning and take a break at lunchtime to drive into the small town not far away. After lunch, we’ll go to their local park and walk around. It’s usually too hot to fish, so we’ll spend an hour or two at the park.

My son doesn’t quite understand what we are doing, and that’s ok because I’m giving him a moment with me he will cherish all his life.

There is a large footbridge over the winding creek that surrounds the park. As we walk over it, I admire the braided steel rope handrails at each side of the bridge, feeling the strong steel rope texture as I walk across.

It’s best when not many people are around as they can distract your capturing process. Discussion is light and usually geared to the things we are experiencing during this time.

It was fun to see a group of Kayakers navigating the gentle waters and twists and turns of the creek.

Spend some time alone or with a companion just feeling your moment. Go barefoot in the soft green grass in a local park, letting your mind wander.

Do you remember the part in the movie “Pretty Woman” when Julia Roberts’ character told Richard Gere’s character to go barefoot in the grass?

Near the end of the movie, when he was conflicted about what he should do next, he remembered Vivian’s suggestion when he went barefoot in the park, and he does it again by himself.

That experience was so profound it changed the way he looked at life. He didn’t want to lose this as he knew this was special and led to a happier and more satisfied life. So he went after the girl who taught him how to capture a remarkable moment in time.

How about you? Have you tried to slow down and capture your own special moment in time? This idea is nothing new. When I was a kid, there was a saying (you don’t hear this much today), “You’ve got to Stop and Smell the Roses” I didn’t understand exactly what that really meant at the time except to slow down your life.

Life is flying by — None of us know how long we have, so go unbusy yourself enough to capture your own Moments in time.