Awakening thanks to a Ladybug...

"A true story..."

It was Mothers Day and I was at the playground playing soccer with my almost-four-year-old son. I had my smart phone with me (of course) just so that I wouldn't miss capturing any magical moments. We kicked the ball around and every now and again I would switch my phone to camera mode and snap some shots. I only have thousands of photos, and my son is a day older than yesterday, so why not add a hundred more? (-;

​"A magical moment missed..."

Suddenly a ladybug landed on my arm. The first one that landed on me! Well... the first this season of this year, whoehoo! (note the sarcasim as I think back on this moment) The first thing that came to mind was "Hey, this is a sign of good luck!"
My automatic reaction was to quickly grab my phone out of my pocket and capture this "magical moment". I tried to get it into camera mode as fast as I could, but...

​I was too late. Ladybug had spread her tiny little wings and had quickly flown away.
​All I had to show for my moment of supposingly good fortune was a photo of my arm. Great.
It was during this moment of slight disappointment, that the most amazing thing happend. Even though the lady bug was gone, it seemed to have left a message lingering behind.
The message that began to translate into words in my mind was this...

​"Stop wanting to capture all the special moments..."

Instead of getting the feeling the ladybug was saying, "haha you missed me!", the underlying message of being "in the moment" instead of trying to capture it, really went straight to my heart.

​It is so true and I do this all the time. I have been fanatic about taking photos and capturing precious moments since primary school. I was well know for being the one who always had a camera ready. I was even taking selfies long before they became known as being selfies.
A beautiful photo is wonderful to have. Memories are lovely to look at and admire as it brings these moments back to life. 
The thing is, I believe that it's beter to be aware of when we are overdoing it... a lot!

"Capturing a moment of a moment not yet lived..."

You see, when you are out having a wonderful time, you are paying attention to your family or your friends, laughing, having an adventure, you are living a series of moments that are becoming a whole experience. When you capture "a moment", later it may be a nice memory of this experience. 
However, when we keep capturing almost every single moment, we may be interrupting the experience so much, that we have photos of all these moments, but the true experience is completely missing. This to me, is something worth considering to change.

​It may be hard at times to resist the urge to just sit still and allow the actual feeling of the experience to sink in... to be in the moment... to just absorb the beauty of what I am looking at with love and awe. It may feel difficult to not have captured this moment and not be able to show it to anyone or post it and share it. It will be my moment. My experience. My gift.
Isn't that what life is truly about? The experience?
I am limiting the experience of life by trying to capture it all the time and giving it away, instead of letting the magic take place within ME!
I love taking photos and I always will... but from now on I'm going to choose those moments wisely. I'm going to choose to just be IN the experience of the moment more often.
​Thank you Ladybug, for being the trigger to access the guidance from my Higher Consciousness. (-: