A Hobby That Gives Back

Over the past few months I have written about the importance of getting hobbies when going through difficult times.  Today I wanted to do a quick reflection on what my newest hobby, photography, has given to me. 

The most obvious thing is it has provided me with something that takes up time in my day.  You would be surprised at how much time you have when you have nothing to do.  Photography fills up many hours in my day because it fills time when I am actually out shooting with my camera and when I am at home reading about photography techniques.  A second benefit is by learning something new I am providing my brain a workout (more to come on this in a later post ;) )

One of the most surprising things it has given me was the application of a composition technique in my everyday life to control my brain to maintain pain levels.  Applying and playing with this technique has become very fun in my life.  I often find myself becoming aware of what my mind has made the subject and the background and how it changes.  I find it makes you so much more aware of your surroundings.  They do say you can't control you mind until you are aware of it.  So if we don't' practice becoming aware of what our mind is focusing on, we won't be able to refocus it when we need to.  Has anyone else tried focusing on your mind's subject/background??

The best thing photography has given me is a new way to look at the world.  My world has become so much more vivid.  Now when I walk around, even when I don't have my camera, I look at everything as potential pictures.  My favorite pictures involve lots of vibrant colours and colour contrast so I pay much more attention to the colours in our world now.  It has made my world so colourful.  :)

The next thing I am going to try and work on is really work on changing my point of view.  I already have my assignment planned out to work on it.  I am going to spend one afternoon taking pictures from the point of view of a squirrel.  So if you happen to be in Port Credit and see a big man crawling around the park ground, don't worry I am not crazy...just changing the way I look at the world ;)

Have any of you taken up a hobby in the past year that has given back many gifts to you?


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