How often do you pay attention to the things around you? Take mental photographs? Capture moments and feelings in your mind?
Yesterday I was lucky enough to do this quite significantly, three times. I want to share two, though all three made the day more rich and powerful for me. You’ll notice the lack of imagery on this post, that’s because nothing can do justice to what my heart and my mind caught hold of.
Travelling to work, 5:45 a.m. It was only just getting light. I was on a rural back road. It was cold, but dry. The radio was off and all I could hear was the thrum of the car. There were trees either side of me. My eyes were focused on the road ahead. Suddenly, there was a flash of movement in front of me coming from the right. My heart stopped. My brain caught up and I saw, in the road, for a brief second, a stag sized white deer. I lost the thrum of the car, there was a blanket of silence. Then as quickly as it appeared, with another fluid movement the animal bound right across my view and was gone. It was stunning. The deer was almost iridescent. It was absolutely heart stopping and beautiful. I have never witnessed anything quite like it. What a way to start my day. I hope I never forget that image, that feeling, that moment.
Strangely enough, my mind captured another image while I was traveling in my car, this time on my way home from work. Pure innocent joy. It was daylight still and coming towards me in their school uniform were two boys, about twelve years of age. The brief moment I caught as I traveled past, was one boy dropping his jaw, pulling his lips over his teeth, stretching his face out in a comical way and his friend, who had red hair and a slightly ruddy glow to his face, was bent at the knees and waist, his face upwards and towards his friend who was close to the curb and he was laughing and laughing hard. Oblivious to passing motorists. Not a care in the world. My slightly tired and cynical brain just jumped out and grabbed that image of joy and I drove home having had a day where my eyes, my heart and my brain had allowed itself to see past it’s own closed-in routine and daily objectives.
It’s a hectic world we live in. Do you remember to stop and catch those moments? What around you has caught your heart recently?
Alex J. Cavanaugh says
Glad the deer sighting was a good one. (And you didn’t hit him.)
Kids are so uninhibited. I wonder at what age we lose that?
Rebecca Bradley says
That’s a very good point Alex. I could definitely have hit him is he’d have jumped out a little closer!
sharonsant says
I love these, thanks for sharing them. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything recently so wondrous as that stag! I must admit, moments like that always do get me excited, though. I’ve even been known to pull out my phone to photograph tree branches on the way to work!
Rebecca Bradley says
I’d love to have been able to capture the deer moment on my phone. It would have been a beautiful image to capture, but would have also resulted in my crashing the car!
chicaderock says
Lovely post. I have many of these moments, but the life I live and the area I live in lends itself for it.
Yesterday a villager was recounting to me something about the past. ”Do you remember Manuel?” he asked my neighbor, who stopped and stared in the distance and I wished I had a camera at that time to capture his face. ”Yes, I remember.”
Nostalgia.
Rebecca Bradley says
Those memories that must have been going through his head! 🙂
Annalisa Crawford says
Great stuff, Rebecca. I do this all the time while I’m walking – I walk home from work late at night, and on a clear night I can see so many stars, I never tire of looking at them, and I’ll probably bump in to something one of these days. Sunsets too. Right now, I’m looking at my neighbour’s um… plant (I’m not a gardener) being battered by the wind and rain, and it still looking beautiful. Sometimes, the small things are the best things.
Rebecca Bradley says
I love looking up into the sky Annalisa. It’s a beautiful wondrous place. I think it’s sheer size and depth give it that need-to-look feel.
The small things are also so good. We do need to remember to look around us.
mandyevebarnett says
try hard to leave ‘life’ behind when I go walking. I take notice of sounds, smells and feelings – embrace nature. I have encountered moose, deer, porcupine, muskrats and a wealth of birds by being in the moment and really immersing myself in it. My walks give me a stillness that recharges my mind, body and spirit. Love the image of the white deer.
Rebecca Bradley says
It was beautiful. I just hope I keep can keep that image captured and not lose it.
Your walks sound simply brilliant! No wonder you do go walking. We need recharging don’t we? Life is just so hectic.
mandyevebarnett says
I think we need to find stillness more than anything from the constant impact of stimulation…TV, radio, internet etc. they all over load us. Enjoying nature is the best way to do that.
Rebecca Bradley says
Absolutely. I struggle to switch my brain off. I am definitely guilty of over stimulating myself with the internet and TV. I’m not much of an outdoorsy girl, but it sounds like it’s probably something that is needed, particularly in today’s current age.
mandyevebarnett says
Ummm…you have me thinking I should post something about it! Have a great day
Rebecca Bradley says
I look forward to reading it!
Mieke Zamora-Mackay says
A lovely reminder to observe and take mental snapshots. On the days that I head home early from work, I usually catch kids walking home from school. I’ve been taking this route for several years now, and I often manage to catch a particular boy and a girl walking home together. It seems like I’ve watched these two grow up from kids of about nine or ten years old to now, when they look like their in high school. They YA author in me always wonders about their relationship.
As for your vision of the white deer, a friend of mine would find some symbolic meaning to that. It should be a good sign of something to come.
Rebecca Bradley says
It would be wonderful if it was symbolic! It certainly felt that way.
It’s funny how we don’t always realise how much time passes, but seeing kids we don’t know, grow up like that, before our very eyes, is a perfect reminder. Lovely that they’re still friends.
Margaret says
I have had moments like that. As a christian I call them God moments, they are to me moments when time stands still and I feel very close to God. It doesn’t matter whether you have a faith though, these are moments to treasure.
Rebecca Bradley says
There was definitely a moment when it felt as though time had stopped and we were both there in a silent bubble. It was beautiful.
Jane Isaac says
Lovely post. I always feel touched when I see moments like these. They are life affirming. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Rebecca Bradley says
I just wish I could have shared the image itself. Stunning.
Peter Domican says
All the time. That’s where a lot of my flash fiction stories come from.
Rebecca Bradley says
It shows there is more around us than we may sometimes notice doesn’t it. Though you obviously are. I’m guilty of running through my life sometimes, which is why that morning moment had such an amazing feel I think.
Very Tessa Tangent says
Those moments and captured mental pictures keep me going when I have a tough day. Admittedly, it’s not every day I see a deer and when I do it’s usually at Bedfords Park! I walk the dog along the footpaths by fields and woody hills nearby. Horses are marvelous when, from an apparently still group, they break into a spontaneous canter. On Monday, a beautiful chestnut mare moved among grass patches, carrying a crow in the slight dip of her back. Of course, I was too late grabbing my phone, but I can always refer to these moments in my mind or from the notes I make in my notebook. I notice that ‘nature’ changes with the seasons and that people do too.
The more I consciously pay attention, keep aware, the more of these moments I get – and life is infinitely richer and more pleasurable as a result. The other bonuses: anyone can do this and it doesn’t cost a penny.
Rebecca Bradley says
Absolutely. I am guilty however of being a bit bear-like in winter and just trying to get through that particular season without taking much notice, so it was a wonderful moment.
I do love how in nature, a group of animals have that fluid movement when they all go at the same time. Birds particularly amaze me when they fly together. We take so much for granted don’t we.
Bel Anderson says
Now that you’ve written these down, they will be even easier to recapture! I wish I had seen the deer, too. I find a lot of moments to capture in my job, but although they make me feel something wonderful at the time and I promise myself I’m going to be able to re-capture them, they always escape in the end.
Rebecca Bradley says
Absolutely! It’s one reason I wrote the post the next day, I was desperate not to lose it as I know I could. It felt somehow special though, with the deer, so I hope to try and hold on to that moment if I can.
Maybe you could carry a notebook for your moments, so that you don’t lose quite so many?
julierkendrick says
What was the third?
Rebecca Bradley says
It was a reminder not to take something at initial face value. Something first seen wasn’t what it initially looked to be. It was a funny old day.
Elle Turner says
Lovely post, Rebecca. It’s easy to get so caught up in life that we forget to notice what’s going on around us. This is a great reminder of what the world has to offer when we pay attention. 🙂 xx
Rebecca Bradley says
Thanks Elle. I’m terribly guilty of rushing through life and I’m worse for it in the winter months. The deer was a wonderful moment that reminded me to wake up.
Joanna (Lazuli Portals Trilogy) says
We really do miss so much in our busy, always-on lives – congrats on being present and witnessing (indeed, capturing!) those special moments, and celebrating them. They say great things come from feeling grateful; I say “More, please!” 😉
Rebecca Bradley says
Thanks Joanna. We whizz around so much don’t we, so it’s nice to be reminded that we need to wake up and live, even if it was very suddenly and while moving fairly quickly!