Pay Attention To Your Moments

Every 12 to 18 months, I go through my digital photos and make an album. I choose the ones that make me smile or bring back good memories. I ensure a good representation of each person from both sides of our immediate families, paying particular attention to our four nieces and two nephews. If there are any photos of our friends, I make sure to include them since we don’t take enough photos with them. I comb through the excessive number of cat photos, choosing only the most adorable, of course. And finally, I collect all the selfies of Dana and I.

When I’m happy with the variety of my selections, I get the photos printed and go about replacing the older photos around our house with the new ones. Our fridge is a particular place of honour since it definitely gets the most attention each day, though there are others in frames on our living room bookcase. I also have a wall in our bedroom full of selfies of Dana and me (tucked away just for us because we are, in my humble opinion, disgustingly adorable but don’t need to subject others to it 😁).

While it’s a bit of a project to go through every year, it’s a process I enjoy immensely. These pictures are reminders of the many people (and creatures!) I am grateful for and of the things I got to experience with them. Some photos are easy to place, such as trips, concerts, or holidays; others are mundane moments, like walking in our neighbourhood on a summer day or watching a basketball game on the couch. 

I recently spent the better part of a Saturday putting up the most recent batch of photos, laying them out like puzzle pieces and deciding which ones would go where. As I worked, I remembered snippets of the conversations, jokes, music, food, hikes, sunshine, and fun. I felt the waves of grief mingled with remembered joy when I looked at the older photos (the ones I don’t change out) because the people and creatures in them are no longer here. I thought about the moments captured in the pictures and the countless others that were not.

The photos that go up, like an Instagram feed, are usually the shiny, happy ones. But even during hard times, there are captured moments that still hold joy. Like the picture of my brother and me right after he spent a month in intensive care. He’s too thin and looks a little haggard, but we are both mean-mugging the camera, and I know we broke into laughter seconds after it was taken. There are also snapshots from the hike my husband’s family took to spread my father-in-law’s ashes. It was a tough weekend but also one of togetherness and remembering.

All of this made me think of a quote by Anne Dillard from her book The Writing Life:

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”

The photos I put up are moments in time. They are reminders of what I’ve been doing and with whom and are evidence of how I’ve spent my days, and therefore my life, over the past year. 

I am happy to say that I like what I see. 

Do you?

What of your “moments”? When you add them up to your hours, days, and, therefore, life, how have you been spending them?  

Most moments pass without a thought, here and gone, as you go about your day. Some will be hard, and you will be glad they have passed. But many moments will also be joyful, happy or fun. These are the moments worth capturing.

Whether it's a photo, a note in a daily reflection, or just taking the time to notice it, pay attention to your moments—they are your life!

If you feel like you don't have enough space in your life for the things that bring you joy, let's chat.