In This Moment: Field Journal and Photo Album

 

I'm becoming even more passionate about getting our photos out of our phones and computers and into our hands. Ellie loves to look through my photo albums from my childhood, from when Jon and I were first dating, and from the trips I took before everything went digital. She also loves it when a new set of Instagram photos printed from the various sites I use comes in the mail and she can hold a photo of herself and put her favorites up in her room.

Printed photos are a way for us to hold tangible evidence of our lives in our hands. We can literally hold a piece of our story and then put it someplace to remind ourselves of the feelings, the true stories, of that moment.

And when we pair these photos with words that help us go even deeper into the story, we hit a frequency that helps us feel seen.

I really believe this is why I used to sit in the guest room/office in my childhood home and slowly, repeatedly, flip through the photos from when I was little. I was feeling seen by looking through these pieces of my story. 

That isn't to say that we can't feel seen sharing our photos through Instagram and Facebook. These moments of feeling seen do happen in real ways online. I love Instagram for the connection I feel there. And in the Facebook groups I use for my ecourses, I see real, deep connection happening when stories and photos are shared.

But the connection to the memories, to sharing these moments, can be fleeting online. And when we only share on social media, we sometimes forget to take that important step of feeling seen by ourselves that happens when we interact in more hands on ways with our own photos, with these pieces of our stories.

In This Moment: Field Journal and Photo Album

Helping you capture the beauty and realness of your everyday moments by printing out your photos + pairing them with words to share even more of the story is the reason why I want to get the In This Moment: Field Journal and Photo Album into your hands. It is one way I'm saying: It's time to stop talking about how we want to find ways to tell our stories and start doing it.

This field journal is a beautiful book you can fill with your photos and your words that tell the story of where you are right now. It is your reminder to see and to notice, to root yourself deeply in the beauty of your everyday life (even on the messy, rainy, tough days). The 27 prompts throughout the journal are the prompts I turn to daily, and they give you a place to begin. There are also blanks pages for you to come up with your own prompts and ideas.

In This Moment really is a mindfulness meets photography ecourse that arrives in your mailbox. You can actually hold it in your hands so it doesn't get lost in your inbox.

 

Previously, In This Moment was available only through The Gift of This Moment Home Retreat Kit. But I now have about 100 of them in my studio ready to be sent to you. You can buy it in my shop right here. 

in this moment (an invitation)

in this moment, i stand under blue sky and breathe in the fresh air and know:
when i quiet my mind and lean into trust, i often realize that i innately know what the next step should be.

***

Inspired by a prompt in Chapter 1 of my book Inner Excavation, I felt moved to take my camera outside and capture "where I stand" today and then pair the photo with an "in this moment" note that gently pushed me to honor what I know today.

An Invitation

I would love to see where you stand today...where you are in this moment...what you know. Tell me in the comments or link to your blog or Flickr with an answer. 

Hope your weekend is full of many good things (and rest),

Liz

authentic living

a peek at my new article

"In This Moment: Healing One Patch at a Time" is my new article in the Autumn issue of Somerset Life. It is the first of three articles I am writing for their Authentic Living column. So honored to be sharing stories about being "in this moment" in the midst of it all.

In this article, I share the story of how making a quilt earlier this year helped me to begin to come out of survival mode and lean back into living and getting out into the world. 

a backyard poetry reading for one (photo in the article)

Oh how I love this quilt.

You can find Somerset Life at Barnes and Noble and other bookstores, and you can order a copy here.

in this moment...

in this moment,
i choose to look up
i notice instead of do 
i sit inside the inhale
i honor the worthiness in seeking the beauty
i let the truths drip down my back

in this moment, i know
(i trust) 

in this moment {a guest post from vivienne mcmaster)

while we are soaking up the wonder of a newborn in the house, a few of my blogging friends are sharing some guests posts...enjoy this "in this moment" post from vivienne mcmaster.

*****

In this moment, I am no where else but here. In this sunshine, this warmth, the ending of another day well lived. I put my camera on the ground, aim it upwards, and begin. I document days like this and the ones far less shiny too. I have these images to tell the story in a way that my memory can’t hold onto. It’s not the facts I want to remember, the date, the place. It’s the story of contentment my smile tells, the way sunshine feels after a week of rain and the way taking photos in the ravine makes me feel alive.

I am the only one living this life, this day this exact way and I am the narrator of my own story.

*****

Vivienne McMaster is a fine art and portrait photographer with a great love for toy and vintage cameras, self-portraiture, and channeling joy through her camera and into an image.

Her work can be found on her website, www.viviennemcmaster.com.

in this moment {a guest post from jennifer mcguiggan)

while we are soaking up the wonder of a newborn in the house, a few of my blogging friends are sharing some guests posts...enjoy this audio post, "in this moment (hold onto hope)" from jenna mcguiggan. (just click on "hold onto hope" below.)

*****

Jennifer (Jenna) McGuiggan is a writer, editor, and writing coach who works with artists, writers, and bloggers. She is the creator and editor of Lanterns: A Gathering of Stories, a collaborative book of prose, poetry, and photography about women in creative community.

Jenna invites you to join her in The Word Cellar, which she envisions as a cozy, stone-walled chamber filled with twinkle lights, shelves of stories, nooks of books, and plush armchairs perfect for sharing your tale.

Visit her online at www.thewordcellar.com or email her at jennifer{at}thewordcellar{dot}com.

hold onto hope