New Day New Hope – A Practice in Patience

May this artistic collaboration nourish your day with more than sunshine! May it somehow give you another glimpse at your own radiance and the difference your investment in your inner peace makes in the world.

Today is a new day. It offers new hope. What will you focus on today?

As a line in a song by Fearless Soul says,

“The grass is greener where I water it.”

So may this video also help remind you what part of your body, mind, spirit or relationships with others and the world needs watering.

Thank you to my friend Joan Dohey for coming out to play with me at 4am on the cliffs of Sugarloaf Trail, just above Quidi Vidi near downtown St. John’s.

Thank you also to Celtic harp musician Jacqueline Cook for generously offering her composition “The Reunion” to enhance the inspirational energy of this offering.

What wears down your patience the fastest?

Technology does it for me. It’s my constant teacher in patience and stress-release. Can you relate?

Last year, as I was photographing the Airbnbs my friend Gordon Martin manages here in Newfoundland, he said in passing “You need a drone!”.

I didn’t think much of it, but it must have simmered in my subconscious.

At first, I thought these were huge machines that took up the whole trunk of a car.

Then, I found out from a drone pilot in an online business course I was taking that the small ones fit in the palm of your hand. And that if you have one under 250g, you don’t need a license or government registration.

So I bought the DJI Mavic Mini 2 as a Christmas gift to myself, just weeks after its release.

I hadn’t realized that you can’t fly it below freezing. So that definitely meant waiting a few months. But you also can’t fly it with winds above 35 km/hr. So my first practice run in an empty soccer field on this windy island had to wait until May 30th.

Then, on May 31, I took it up the cliffs with my cooperative and patient model Joan for some sunrise playtime.

Nerve-wracking! I sure hope drone flying becomes a little more relaxing & fun with practice.

I’d taken an online course and watched all the tutorials many times. I’d even gone out with Brad Wade of Asterix Drone Works to get a hands on demonstration and familiarization with his professional drone a few months back.

But this drone will definitely be a teacher in how to remain in my inner peace … even around flying technology  “under my control.” Yikes!

Can you believe it took 9 hours to create this 3:15-minute video? The first 6 hours were creative fun, The next 3 hours, however, pushed my techno-stress buttons while dealing with computer and iMovie glitches.

I’m still learning to create videos. There are bound to be issues.

True, banging my fist on the desk that one time wasn’t the most loving thing to do (for myself and the energy I put into the house & the video). But awareness is key. The next time I felt my patience wear out, I headed out into the backyard, removed my socks, and just stood in the grass breathing in the beauty.

I hadn’t expected to spend 9 hours at the computer after returning home at 7am from our sunrise playtime. So what?! Those hours weren’t a loss. They were an investment into this budding passion for videography.

And now I get to share it with you – and that nourishes my soul. I hope this video and post nourishes yours.

We’re all works in progress.

The day after my computer frustrations, I’m back into the pure joy of sharing the beauty of Newfoundland with you in the hopes that it provides 3 minutes and 15 seconds of joy, awe, and gratitude for how this planet nourishes our souls. Can you feel it?

Today is a new day. Every day is a new day – an opportunity to shed what no longer serves us (in my case memories of 3 hours of technical issues and fear that it will happen again next time) to truly be in the moment. 

New Day. New Hope.

Be patient with yourself, no matter what’s pushing your buttons. 

Know that every day, the sun rises – even if it’s behind the fog & clouds.

You are the expanse of the sky, not the weather that travels through it.

You’re amazing. This Earth is amazing.

There is hope in daily new beginnings – an invitation to see and be differently with yourself and others.

Today’s a new day. Be patient with yourself and others. We’re all learning to be the best version of ourselves. That’s an investment worth making.