Glowing Sumac Leaves

 What is it that lights you up and brings you joy?

Do you know?

Or have you forgotten?

Raindrops linger on leaf

When Sparks Fly

Everyone has sparks that light them up, whether they know it or not. The sad thing is that many were never encouraged to notice those sparks.

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” — Golda Meir

We spend so much of our lives figuring out how to make a living, pay the bills, and raising our kids that it’s easy to forget to pay attention to what lights you up and brings you joy.  If you’re lucky you had parents, a relative, teacher or friend who noticed the things that lit you up, and encouraged you to spend time doing them.

Late Bloomers

Sparks are different from talent for many of us. For others, our talent and sparks are in perfect alignment and whatever we’re good at is also what lights us up. My sparks are quite different from the talent everyone praised me for growing up. I was very good at math and science in school and college.  I was called “the Brain” in high school. And back then in my small town, being “the Brain” was not a cool thing.

Despite an early rebellion against science and math, I ended up using those inborn talents to become a software engineer. But my sparks did not align with that job. The creative aspects of software design and figuring out the cause of pesky bugs did give me enjoyment but it was not the deep joy I experience making photographs and art.

“If any one of us unleashes our creativity, our world will split open. We’ll find unprecedented ways of solving problems and expressing our souls, and our lives will be forever changed.

But perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of creative expression is that it depends on resistance to the opinions and interference of others.” — Martha Beck

As a child I was always looking for a craft project or something to make. We had a book called The Make-it Book that I practically wore out, looking for another project that I could make with the minimal art materials I had. Pages came loose and the binding began to fail before I “outgrew” it. But I never recognized that for me, making things and creating things was my spark.

Crab Apples

So many things keep us from recognizing our sparks. If no one notices what lights up a child, it is likely that the child will soon forget it as well.

When it came time to choose a career, not understanding the sparks that made me most happy, I chose a “safe” software engineering career where I felt certain I could find a job and make a living to support my family.

I’m not suggesting that I should have done something else for a career. I enjoyed and was challenged by my career for many years and doing that work put me in a place where I can now do photography full time without worrying about food and shelter.

But the work never, ever brought me the joy and peace that photography has. I was a late bloomer, discovering photography in my 50’s. And for me that was perfect timing.

You may not want to go out and quit your job to do what you love. But I encourage you to pay attention to what brings you joy and to make time for it in your life.

May you walk in beauty.

A note on today’s photos. When I got up this morning, the cloudy gray sky was like a giant softbox, diffusing the light so beautifully that I couldn’t resist taking my camera on my morning walk. Though many of the leaves have fallen, there are still bright spots of color to be found.

Sumac leaf curves fascinated me this morning.

Couldn’t believe these perfect pink roses in bloom

Some color around the pond behind our house

Colorful oak leaves

Golden grace

Gold and red sumac leaves