Month: July 2021
Overgrown
I shot this photo from my driveway looking at the greenery between my neighbor’s fence and my garage. The trees and shrubs are a tad overgrown, but they do offer some privacy and prevent the neighborhood animals from wandering from the front to the backyard or the backyard to the front.
Art Sculpture
One of the art sculptures along the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook.
Mohawk River
I took a road trip to Amsterdam, NY to check out the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook. The bridge overlooking the Mohawk River is filled with flowers, art, and historical markers.
The bridge connects the north and south banks of the Mohawk River. I spent a few hours enjoying the views, taking pictures, and walking through the park.
Perched Cardinal
I was finally able to capture the cardinal that has been flying around my backyard the past few weeks. He moves fast and oftentimes, he flies away before I can grab my camera and snap a few shots.
The cardinal was perched on the top of some outdoor furniture around my firepit. He flew away a short time later, but not before I was able to capture him with my DSLR camera!
Flowering Hydrangeas
The hydrangeas in my front yard are finally starting to bloom after planting them a few years ago.
The flowers turn different colors based on the soil PH level. For pink flowers, the soil is alkaline with a PH level 7 or above.
Percent of people in each county without internet
Believe it or not, according to the Census Bureau, there are more than 16 million people without internet across the United States.
The following map looks at the percentage of people who do not have internet access by county. The county with the lowest percentage of people without internet is Douglas County, Colorado (3.73%). The county with the highest percentage of people without internet was Telfair County, Georgia (64.85%).
Tap or click on a county to see the percentage of people who do not have internet access.
Why letting go means freedom
Letting things go is challenging.
Throughout our lives, we all have various experiences good and bad. We develop attachments and memories of people, places, and things. We develop stories about these experiences to help us understand the world and project ourselves to others.
The stronger the emotional bond to these stories and experiences, the harder it is to let them go.
It takes courage to let things go because that means we are changing who we are. We are shifting the narrative about ourselves by choosing to not be bound by prior experiences. It forces us to get off autopilot and take control of our lives.
The thing is, nothing in this life is permanent. Everything is changing and that is why holding on to things creates so much suffering. I wrote about this idea a few months ago. You try and view the current moment through the lens of yesterday. But yesterday was different than today. Yet, so many of us try and make it the same.
It is about not yearning for the “good old days” because this moment is just as valuable as all of those prior moments. The past was good, bad, and something in between.
Letting go does not mean you can not have memories or think of the past. It is human nature to reflect and look back at things in your life. It just means not getting stuck in a thought, feeling, or emotion and trying to live your life through those prior moments. The past is the past.
Life always has a way of triggering these past memories or experiences. All you need to do is acknowledge, recognize it, and come back to the present moment.
Think of letting things go like releasing a ton of balloons. There are some balloons that we have a light grip on and we can easily release them. Others we may have a death grip on, holding so tightly that someone would probably have to cut the string before we would ever let it go.
As we release each one of these balloons that are holding us back, creating suffering, and preventing us from living in the moment, we become lighter. Letting go means we have true freedom. We are not bound by these prior experiences and when something triggers these past memories we can acknowledge it and then be present.
We can not create these new moments and experience things if we are not truly present. There are so many distractions all vying for your attention. This is why meditation is incredibly beneficial to be able to get silent in a noisy and sometimes overwhelming world.
Freedom to me is when you can be in the moment, without any distractions, and experience everything life has to offer.
Downtown Troy
Downtown Troy was a bit of a ghost town despite it being in the middle of summer. The weather hasn’t been too nice in the Capital Region for the past few weeks. It started to drizzle a short time after I took this shot down River Street in Troy.