Wherever you are be there totally.

*can the heading be an image?

loosely based on a true story.

Expectation isn’t just a thought. It’s a desire of how you want things to go. And it’s as if you’re asking of the universe to facilitate this experience around how you would like things to unfold.

I had bought a cheap lens off Ebay and the package has been sitting on my desk for months now. It had some faulty so there was no bids and I was able to grab it for very cheap. The package had the quote from Eckhart Tolle, “wherever you are. be all there”

After a long and staggering work week, I thought to myself I need to head outdoors for a nice walk in the woods. It will also be a great time to test out the new lens. New to me.

Next morning my mind wondered to think and plan the photos I want to take, which trail to go, while I sip my coffee in complete silence. I was having a bit of a creative rut. Sometimes we just try too hard. I thought to myself, may be I should just go out take photos with no expectations and no planning. My mind started to keep wandering..one thing to another.

Why are we so feared of new things and the unexpected? Did you check in with yourself if you are in the moment or anxious of the unexpected. Is anxiousness something we were born with or is it something we gradually learnt. Learnt that time is running out. There is no time to experiment and have a full present experience. Our mind will constantly throw things we need to be anxious about and snap you out of the presence.

PURRRR!!!! Purrrr, Purrrrr, I looked around, No I don’t have a cat. Purrrr. Purrrr..

Ah.. It was my friend Allen. He drove his mom’s 1985 Porshe 911. Lucky bastard. It was 28 degrees out. Car’s top was off, so was Allen’s.

I had forgotten we planned to go to do a trail walk this morning. I grabbed my hat, camera, tripod and the lens package. We were headed to Golden Ears provincial park. I unpacked while Allen was trying to decide on the tunes. I attached the lens to my camera, I got my eye to the viewfinder to frame my first photo of the day. Focusing ring was so tight, I had to put muscle. Finally turned, my frame was in focus, and an unexpected force pulled my head inside the lens  itself. In an instant I found myself transported into a surreal state of presence.

I noticed the trees leaning towards the park road like never before. They were humungous. The moss was hanging off these trees and they were back lit from he sun rays. Looked so etherial. The light rays were passing through the tree branches, moss, and hitting my face. The top down car was not a bad idea. The tall trees on the sides started to look like a drag in motion. It was like watching a movie played in 12 frames per second.

Me and Allen went to a small beach hidden away from the main beach area where people come and go. When I am in the nature I enjoy being secluded from other people. I’ve been there alone many times to sit on this large silver colour log that was the perfect spot to sit on. It was close proximity to the large body of water and this large tree provided shade to the whole area.

The large rocks scattered everywhere to sit on or climb on. Tree stumps everywhere but too big and gnarly to sit on. Thousand year old notches showed so much character.

The Golden ears old growth forest trees were cut down in the 1920s when the world coming out of depression. Logs were used to build housing for the growing population so logs were pretty crucial for the economic growth.

The water was cold to touch and the waves were so subtle but rhythmic. The sun rays in the depth of waters were dancing along with the water ripples. My eyes got lost in the intense sun rays and the water ripples that had rhythm. It was so mesmerizing. I lost track of time. This beautiful mossy tree was giving us shade while we were sitting on this large log. The bark of this tree has a face of a snail. And the snail was looking towards the water.

‘These spikes on the log are freaking me out dude, can we move over there?’Allen

pointed towards a rock that was in the water.

The legs were submerged in the water and the dancing sun-rays started moving over our feet. The water was cold and soothing it sent chills up my spine. The temperature in water was the perfect addition to the warm sun hitting my whole body and that toasty rock Allen  suggested we sit on.

The mountain range across the large body of water was so enoormous, you could never see any detail of the trees from across the lake. The large trees on the other side just blended in to one green blur with the top of mountains capped with snow dust.

At least this is what I remember from the times I’ve been here before. After staring at the water ripples dancing around my feet I look up to snap focus on one singular tree in the mountain range moving slowly to the left and right with the winds. The trees were alive. They were doing their own thing, communicating with each other and rocking from side to side very slowly. Some trees were old and slow moving, providing shade to the young ones to grow.

I looked to my behind, the giant snail tree and its surrounding greenery. Everything was alive. They didn’t want to communicate with me, but they looked so majestic and wise. Yes wise, like they held so much information. I was filled with gratitude and a wave of humbling emotion passed through me for these majestic beings allowing me to be myself and enjoy my time amongst their presence.

Allen was busy freaking out about ants around us. They were so fast, I can see the speed of their legs moving. Wooooo. One just jumped off that rock and just continued running like he did not have any impact on its knees. Does ants have knees? In human’s perspective its like jumping off a 30 story building. Imagine you see someone running on the top of a roof of a 30 story building, jump off, and continue to run. Is your mind blown or are you just numb to any imagination?

The nose on this rock is disproportionate to its mouth and ears. I noticed it in this small rock that was bouncing off my foot with the waves. So unique! Each and every single one of the rocks. I started to drop my hand and pick up random rocks to take a closed look at different ones. They were so smooth and the faces were so different.

The eyes on this one. Wow. The lightning deep blue on this rock. it looks like something out of this planet. Dropped my hand… WOOOO! Its sooo yellow! And the black dots on it are unreal and Wooo the face on this.. the jaw line.  Dropped my hand again. FAAA.. never seen such deep steel black colour on a rock before.. Why does this rock looks so angry. Why? The eye brows squeezed in to a deep ‘V’. So much intensity in the eyes. Dropped my hand again… you get the picture!

On the way back home I was thinking to myself, if I had to explain the experience to someone in one sentence: I was curious as a child seeing the world for the first time.

I have seen those trees, rocks, giant snail tree, the mountain range, probably sat on that silver colour humungous log 15 times. I never notices those beautiful ripples in the water, colourful rocks with so much character. I never admired and wasn’t there totally.