Currently I am working on another blog www.amodernpilgrimage.com, which focuses on internal, external, and communal pilgrimages we take in today’s world. In creating content for this blog, and accompanying pinterest and Instagram, I am sorting through old pilgrimages I have taken over the past 10 years.
There are so many forms of pilgrimage, not just religious or spiritual. Pilgrimages can be food pilgrimages, art, nature, literature, internal journeys (such as silent retreats, meditation), or concerts in special locations. Contemplation can exist in so many forms, and I want to remind people that in today’s world. The primary essence of it is intention. Intentional travel.
As I create reels from old photos and videos, I recall the moments I have spent over the years in foreign lands or even my homeland. I am searching to create themes in these little vignettes. This is a time where we have stopped printing pictures or creating tangible photo albums. But for many of us these photos and videos exist in our phones. They are resurrected in some ways with this project. Some include individuals that are no longer in my life in the same capacity, even my beloved Puzo who died this past summer. But we were all witnesses to each other’s life and are part of each other’s journey.
I recommend this practice for any of you to do. Bring back those old memories to life. These images do not have to be digitally dead in your phone, they can live on with a beautiful song to accompany it. Author Anais Nin once said “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” Regardless if you are a writer or not, allow those sweet memories to be tasted twice. And savor them.
It Only Takes A Smile 