Nature & Self-Discovery


 

I took this photo earlier this year in the Brazilian Amazon. One of my favorite things to photograph is sunlight breaking through a dense canopy of foliage, transilluminating the leaves on its path to the forest floor. The colors of the leaves and the play of shadows and light are some of the most beautiful things in nature.

 

This photo brings me back to a time of innocence, when humans were more like animals and hadn't yet been conditioned by civilization and the social game. I remember watching old home 8mm videos of my family as a child, and one of my earliest recorded memories is of me as a toddler walking over on my own to pick up a leaf and marvel at its beauty and texture.

 

We lose that innocence when we go to school and learn that we have to compete in society. As a career advisor at the medical school, my students and residents often ask me what kind of life they should live. I tell them to live a good life, but one that is in tune with who they really are. I encourage them to go back and watch old home videos of themselves before they were sent to school and got too old. This can help them to rediscover the things they really liked to do and the kind of people they were. If they can align that with where they are going in life, they'll be fine.

 

As the Zen saying goes, to know yourself you have to find out who you were before your parents (and society) gave birth to you.

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