You were born with potential
You were born with goodness and trust
You were born with ideals and dreams
You were born with greatness
You were born with wings
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings
Learn to use them, and fly.
– Rumi

It was a perfect sunny Friday evening in the fall. Denise and I set out to Discovery Park to take pictures of her grande jete down the hill with her boxer Charlie for her professional website. I was thrilled when she asked me because I had been wanting to practice some panning technique after admiring Clarie’s biker in Ambsterdam and Pierre’s rowers. Panning is fairly challenging: I needed to catch Denise’s leaps while following her down the hill with my lens. And boy, Denise could jump! Charlie was super fast, too. In a blink of an eye, they already made it down the hill from the top while I could only get two or three exposures. It was amazing Denise ran and jumped for almost two hours. Charlie was really good but goofy. He’d run down the hill next to Denise at first and then either get distracted by my camera lens or get too excited running ahead of Denise. I still need a lot of practice with panning, finding the right shutter speed and better following of my subject.

We wanted to convey the message of living with joy, good health, and a sense of freedom. I think we have succeeded! I had a lot of fun that day and absolutely loved all the pictures that came out.

Each one of us has a higher self full of wisdom and knowing. Are you connected to it? That day, I dialed into my higher self and I said, I really like who I am and where I am in my life. I say no to things that take that happiness away, even if I don’t fully understand the reasons. I say yes to things that continue to carry me on my journey filled with joy and purpose. I trust my higher self. I’m willing to make mistakes but I am not willing to make compromises.

I have wings, and I fly.