Off the Grid

by Skip Cohen

Every morning Sheila and I start the day with a few laps around the neighborhood and walk for half an hour. Thursday morning we were out earlier than usual and the sunrise was spectacular. So many people wait for beautiful sunsets but miss the morning light show! 

Sadly, I use my old iPhone 8 for "Map My Walk," and the camera doesn't have the quality of my new iPhone 14. So, while the old phone is officially to be retired, the shot above is straight out of the phone - no manipulation except a crop.

But here's my point - so many of us are so caught up in the day-in-day-out stress of business and life that we rarely stop to smell the roses, let alone look at them! We miss so much around us every day. In a post last January, Suzette Allen wrote:

​I feel like there are lots of things we judge harshly or don't expect much from as we whiz by on our busy ways…. Businesses, parks, alleys, people. Yes, people. We buzz right by and just assume lots of things (or don't really expect much from them) at first glance. But, If we take the time to see- to look them in the eyes, to learn a little about them, to see past the rough protective barriers… there are lovely gardens, peaceful retreats, calm and lovely invitations, and beauty we probably didn't expect to find.

Maybe today, we can slow down for a few minutes and SEE. Stop and walk up to someone or someplace with no agenda or judgment- just curiosity and expectation. (good expectation). Perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised with what we find within.

I'll add one more piece to Suzette's - often, when we find something to look at, we over-focus and forget to look behind us. If Sheila and I hadn't been on a walk around the block, we would have only seen the sunrise. Directly behind us was the moon, and it was stunning. And all around us, on either side, everything was bathed in this incredible morning sweet light.

Here's my point - take the time to look around you. Have some fun and shoot "neurochromes" in macro and closeup. Take the time to focus on what's really important instead of getting caught up in the minutia that doesn't matter.

To that goal - I want to wish everybody, whether Easter or Passover, a wonderful holiday and time with the people who mean the most to you.

And in keeping with trying to practice what I preach, I'm going off the grid for the next week, back online April 16. The Internet is terrific but unbelievably possessive. I've been missing those "roses," and the only way to get back on track is to step away.

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As you walk down the fairway of life, you must smell the roses,
for you only get to play one round!
Ben Hogan