Livestrong: Its more than a bracelet when you are Living Strong

I see many people wearing the livestrong bracelets and I often wonder if they know what it really represents.  I wonder if it is just a fashion fad for them, are they wearing it to make a statement, or is it truly a declaration that they believe in living strong.

Well I guess to determine that we would first have to understand what livestrong meant.  I looked around on the internet and the best I could come up with I found at wikipedia and it said it is meant to encourage people to live life to the fullest.

Now how on earth can a bracelet encourage you to live your life to the fullest with just one word?  Frankly, I don't think it can.  Unless you have the consititution to be living your life to the fullest and this serves as just a reminder to you and everyone else you are doing that.  But to expect a bracelet to change our entire vision and start making us live life differently is crazy.

I like to look at this as more.  Livestrong to me is more than just living life to the fullest, it is about living your life with true strength.  By wearing this bracelet you are making a declaration to everyone around you that you have true strength and have the fortitude to get through anything life throws your way. 

I came across a quote the sums up a perfect definition of true strength

"Anyone can give up - it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  BUT to hold it together, when everyone else would understand if you fell apart - that's True Strength." - Unknown

I think this is why so many cancer survivors wear this bracelet.  It isn't just a reminder to them to live their life to the fullest.  It is a reminder that when life threw them one of the biggest curveballs they could have expected, they hung in there and exhibited more true strength than could have been imagined.  This bracelet is a declaration of their inner true strength and a reminder that they have the strength to handle whatever life throws at them. 

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Into the Fog

I have always felt a magical connection to the fog.  Specifically the type of fog that is so heavy it acts as a veil that blocks your vision in every direction except for the few steps around you. 

There is just something so majestic about heavy fog like this.  Perhaps it reminds you to be present.  When you are in this type of fog you can only see a few steps in front of you, masking what lays ahead.  This can be frightening and exhilerating all at once. 

It is a literal metaphor for our lives.  All too often in life we spend so much time worrying about what has happened in the past or what lies ahead of us, we forget the present.  The is beauty in the present, with the past and future veiled to us.  This veil forces an acute awareness of the beauty of everything that is in our relative proximity.

I have seen many photographs of this type of fog and I have always felt jealous.  I have always wanted to photograph this but haven't had the chance yet.  Not just to capture the essence of this beautiful natural phenomenon but to help illustrate that by eliminating the distracting elements in the foreground (future) and background (past) it just illuminates how truely remarkable the present is.

And so I present to you my humble attempts at capturing this wonderful natural metaphor :D

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Capturing the beauty of Aruba

I must say this post is very overdue but nonetheless I am happy to finally be sharing these images with you.  I am sorry it has taken so long to share them but late last year I embraced a new editing process for my work; to wait awhile before editing my images (more on this to come in a future post). 

Aruba was truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life.  It was the perfect dream location for our wedding especially after everything Amy and I had been through.  Unfortunately our first week on the island, I was so busy with the wedding I didn't find time to use my camera as much as I might have liked.  Thankfully our honeymoon week I took probably close to 1000 photos. 

All the images were taken with a micro 4/3rds camers (olympus ep-3) which was a fantastic camera, although I no longer have (to be discussed further in another post).

I figured with the warm weather to slowly start peaking its head out for us it would be the perfect time to share some beautiful pictures of paradise.  I hope you like my attempts to capture the beauty of such a wonderful island.  What is your favourite photo? 

The Palapa Amy and I spent most our time at

Part of the Lounge for the bar

Our Candlelight dinner on the beach

the workout room

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