How Often Do You Look?
Updated: Apr 8, 2019
It's just like any other day where the simplicities of our life bleed together. We go to work and try our best to uproot our pessimism and ever so slightly direct our attention to the positives that are found in all of our lives. For the days we are able to leave our phones in our pocket and just be, I challenge you to genuinely take a look at your world. How does the air feel going in and out of your body? How does your office chair feel when you sit in it? How do you feel when somebody makes you smile? For me, today was all of those things. It's a practiced and conscious decision to be aware and this strategy not only provides you with much higher levels of daily satisfaction but it will also lead you to a happier life. Alan Watts once questioned, "What explanation of your world affords a better game?" What he meant by this is that nature is a poet and philosophy is a matter of taste. For me this distinction at a basic level has come easily; I've edited thousands of nature photos where I cease to forget just how incredible the world we live in really and truly is. This isn't always the easiest reality to create for yourself but it is completely necessary for a fruitful survival. I've said before, nature is the shortest bridge to a divine understanding and I use my grit to never let go when grasping this reality.
Today was just like any other standard day for me, I edited my nature photography for a few hours and joyfully lost myself while compiling the video below. You might ask, how I'm able to free myself from worry during this time? Photography is a stepping stone to becoming comfortable analyzing specific pieces of your life that are easily fogged together. When you spend time focusing on minute details, reading between the lines, and really mastering the theology of appreciation, you crank the vibrance up in your life. Something as simple as a coffee mug will begin to look much less black and white. Fortunately, it is possible to pour what's left in your mug out, refill and get some clarity. Similar to how you can never go back to your childhood state of mind once you relinquish this part of you and really begin looking at your surroundings, you'll never be able to get lost in the fog again.
For the video positioned below, I challenge you to start the revitalization process and really look! See how the leaves are hanging, observe the deep green tonal changes in the diverse selection of plants. Watch the warm summer water trickle under the reflection from a late afternoon sun. Envision your last foot leaving the sandy rock as you take flight off this ledge into a journey of freeing yourself from worry. Are you where you want to be? Or are you the farthest thing from it? Understand yourself and this landscape further. Question and believe the absurd. Seeing your world in this new light is a bridge into a place called contentment and you can find it in the most unexpected places. You might just find churning happiness behind a cloaked wall put up by yourself. I challenge you to see beyond the fog because how often do you really look?
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Nick Uthe is a life enthusiast, traveler, and digital entrepreneur in Salt Lake City. He is the Owner of outdoor apparel and media brand GrandTaiga, and a Contributor for Outside TV, and HUMANFITPROJECT.
For more beautiful photography, artistic insight and philosophical understanding connect with Nick on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Vero and VKontakte.