Living in a busy city like Hong Kong and in an age where technology dominates a huge part of our lives, it is easy to become disconnected with life. We often rush around our daily lives from one thing to the next and forget to really stop breath and live in the moment.
In the past few years I have pretty much always worried about not capturing special moments on camera, especially with my children. So much so, that I often got lost and never really fully experienced the moments that I captured. Photos bring back memories that are not real; only exist in the mind, a visual reminder of a moment that could never be re-created.
To share a story, while driving home one day, I passed by the most beautiful and captivating blossom tree. My heart really wanted to stop and spend a few minutes under the blossom tree but my mind immediately began churning thoughts of, “But my daughter is waiting for me,” or “I’ll do it tomorrow,” and my all-time favourite excuse for escaping the present moment, “I’ll take a picture of it so I can look at it later.” It was at that instant I laughed at the absurdity of that thought. I had forgotten to bring my phone with me, which was unusual, but I saw the blessing and lesson behind it. It meant that I wasn’t able to take a snapshot of the moment like I am used to doing and so either I drive by like usual, or I stop and actually do what my heart wanted.
With that, I decided to get out of my car and I finally stopped to smell the blossoms and really breathe in and live the moment. I stood under the blossom tree and as I took a breath of its mesmerizing beauty, my heart melted. I opened my eyes ever so slowly and the blossoms whispered lightly to me,
“Live in the moment,
Breathe this moment,
Ere we drift and be carried away with the wind,
Twirling into a wisp of memory”
Perhaps the next time we tell ourselves that we are too busy to stop, or our mind tells us that we have many more moments, or that we can revisit them through pictures or video; try putting down the camera, phone or camcorder and imagine that nothing existed to allow us to capture these moments. Then ask yourself again what’s real and important and you will know what you really want to do with that one and only precious moment.
By Michelle Wong, she works at Balance Health Hong Kong as an Energy Fieldwork Practitioner and Life Mission & Synchronicity Coach
