Flexible Mind
Last week I was scheduled to photograph my beautiful client and friend Nicole for some updated branding shots. I had booked a beautiful hotel space at 41North in Newport, RI, had the hair and makeup people scheduled to come and was ready to go. And then I wasn’t. Residents and businesses in Newport had a crazy situation of loosing their gas heat due to some weird pressure in a main gas line. Thousands of homes and businesses were shut down and people were cold. So needless to say, our shoot was not going to happen in Newport.
So two days before our shoot date I was scrambling around to find another available location but with so many places out of heat in Newport, I had to look out of town. I had been leading a meditation group at a beautiful sanctuary space at St. Mary’s church in Portsmouth, RI and thought maybe that could be an option. They had a nice room downstairs from the chapel that was open and had great light. They agreed to let me use it.
I called everyone and rearranged our shoot and all was well. This was a very minor problem for me especially considering the bigger problem was keeping people in Newport warm during this particularly cold snap during the heat outage, but it’s an example of staying flexible in my mind and body. Life can throw you some curve balls every now and then but its how you deal with these things that makes you who you are. You can be rolling along with your expectations of how things will go and then BAM, you hit a wall. Something moves you in a different direction or throws you off course.
But if you stay flexible in your mind, meaning, not getting stuck in certain expectations or outcomes, but set your intentions, make great plans and move forward with the awareness that things may shift or change. And when they do you adjust, adapt and begin again with new plans and intentions. When you can do this you create more ease and internal peace, which allows you to stay in your flow. You keep the channel of creativity and possibility open instead of blocking that flow with negativity and a feeling of being stuck.
I had all kinds of visions of the shots I might take at 41North because I knew the space and could imagine shooting there. I had never shot at the Sanctuary but kept an open mind. “What is possible?” I asked myself in each moment. What can I do here that would be just as positive for my client and the outcome of her photographs? It kept me thinking creatively verses negatively.
So whether you have a big upset like loosing your heat during the coldest time of the year or have to move your location for a photo shoot, check in with how you respond to these situations. Can you see them as happenings verses something happening to you. Stay flexible in your mind and your actions will follow.
Our shoot went beautifully because we all adjusted with ease and here are a few of the outtakes. And thankfully the heat is back on in Newport and people are warm and safe again.
