Small or Big Picture or Somewhere in-between

Aperture is "the opening in the lens". In camera talk, changing your f-stop, will change your focus. When we change our focus, wild and exciting things can happen.

We each have our gift, some can spend hours designing a creative project with dots, other prefer the expanse offered with a large canvas, some like ballads with thought provoking lyrics and their neighbour blasts techno music from his balcony.

Whoever we are, whoever our partner, colleague, fellow runner or yogini might be, we all see the world through our own filters. Our past experiences and the ones we anticipate, colour our worlds. Do you know someone who sees things as black and white/ right or wrong, this person most likely feels safe because of the framework of the rules they have adopted. Do you know someone who brings colour and vibration and joy each time they walk into the room? Take a guess what this person is focusing on! They are not confined by what lies underfoot, they are exuberant about the possibilities.

As a photographer, our aperture is crucial. It will assist us on our focus, it will change our picture, it will change what we see.     

0-59 and going strong

Grown of a distant mother
not a sister in sight
surrounded by girl friends galore.

Held onto them for laughs
and crank calls, sleep-overs, skipping and passing notes.

Some were pretty, or smart, or fat
yes, we said those words back then.
I asked one, what was it like to kiss when you both had braces
and found out about menstruation from a pamphlet called
"once a month the egg travels".

I learned from Mary Tyler Moore
that some marriages were happy and survived
and other unraveled.
I learned that families did not talk about some things that happened
and that we each carried those scars with us into our future.

I packed up my suitcase and married someone whom I didn't like
although I believed that love would conquer all.
and moved across a nation with my smiles and my lies
only to find out that the only one I had was myself.

and then I learned more
that some things cannot be salvaged, some things are not worth holding on to
that your future is only your future if you allow it
that what you have made your way through has given you the courage to share
to speak about, to help save someone else.


We must be the voice for each other, when our words cannot reach the surface
when the pain is too great 
when the fear is too strong
when our strength is diminished
We must, we have to
Because we can.


My contribution to #WomensLives initiative -- a media partnership between PRI and SheKnows Media

Do what you Love

Discover what makes you happy! Then do it today.

Find Yourself. Find Your Bliss.

Beauty in Growth

One can choose to go back toward safety or froward toward growth.
Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.

Abraham Maslow

Whether you are held back by the confines of your upbringing or held hostage by an unhealthy relationship, choose courage and break free. Each determined step will lead you to the freedom of being who you are meant to be. 

Trust that you have the strength, be bold in changing your thoughts, get the support you need from others. There are many of us here ready to lend you our hand.

My January Create

At the start of each year, an old and dear friend of mine encourages me to choose a Word, which will be my theme for the months ahead. 

I’ve “done” Relax, Focus and Let It Unfold, in years past. This year, I’ve chosen Create. I have decided that what I need is some Play, time to have fun, no agenda, no end goal. In choosing Create, I hope to learn some new things as the months take shape. See my January Create right here, courtesy of a fun and relaxing class at Vin Gogh Paint Sip Studio.

February is now upon us and  stay tuned for my Create project for this month. I don’t know yet what it will look like but it will be a jewelry piece this time. The best part of this idea is that it will force me to organize, sort through, and find (!) some items which I’ve accumulated. My drawer devoted to jewelry beads, cords, chains, shiny and colorful things will also get a much needed look through. It is yet a mystery as to what I will rediscover in the little bags, containers, torn out papers and snipped articles.

During the year, I pull my Word out and savour it in quiet times and also when I know I need it. Many years ago, my Word was Yoga. And that year for the first time in my life I stepped onto a mat. Since then, Yoga has become an essential part of my life and I am so grateful that it came to me as my Word of growth that year.

If you want to join the fun and choose a Word for yourself this year, it is not too late. Decide! Then send me a note and tell me which Word you chose and why.

Growing Out

We are governed by the rules that we were taught when we were youngsters and too young to make our own decision. We were told that not to embarrass our family, that we should be humble and not rock the boat, and a multitude of ideas which we incorporated into our thoughts without being aware.

Then we got bigger and we learned that although many of these teachings continue to be valuable, there were many others that don’t sit well with us any longer.

We were told to be polite sometimes to the point of submission, to not ask for what we are due, and to keep our dreams small.

We now have the awareness and the ability to do something different. But still, many of us don’t.

Are you subservient to a spouse or supervisor?
Do you chastise a child the same way you were?
Are you a victim and a blamer because this is what you were taught?
Do you work until you are bone weary because you were told "life is tough"?
Are you waiting for the right time to become a musician, an artist, a writer or a student?

Don't wait any longer.

This week, spend some time to recognize what is holding you back. Are you still following the rules you were taught when you were a child even though you are now much taller?

Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. 

Add what is uniquely your own.

Bruce Lee