I’m currently going through all the digital photography I took in Kauai earlier this month. Our camera is old by technology standards at eight years old and the camera’s age is showing. As I scan the photos I find that more are out of focus than are clear.

At first I was annoyed. I wanted great results with every picture. I wanted to see what I had seen with crystal clarity, didn’t I?

Then something unexpected happened. I began to get a bit of relief, even pleasure, out of deleting the unfocused photographs as I whittled down my Kauai photograph selection. Suddenly a thread of insights came bubbled up to my conscious mind during this process. Here are seven things I learned about life and photography:

1. Be glad that not all is perfect all the time. The bad shots would mean fewer photographs to go through later when I wanted to use digital pictures for my emagazine or blog saving me time and energy. Decisions can be more difficult to make when we have too much to choose from.
2. Find real pleasure in scenery and life events that are beautiful. It’s a gift from the universe anytime things are crystal clear.
3. Sometimes a little haziness is pretty. I don’t always need to see things in bold relief to experience appreciation. Softness can be desirable, too.
4. The closer things are to us, the clearer they tend to be. This is true in life. Sometimes we want the close as well as the far away horizon to be clear, but this can be unreasonable and maybe not so smart since we first need to appreciate and see the things right in front us on our path before we try to gaze down the road.
5. A photograph is not always the best way to appreciate the moments of our life. I felt this often even as I was taking the photographs. I was aware that I should fully experience the scene in front of me without worrying about capturing it for the future.
6. Turn up your senses to get the essence from any experience. This is key to living satisfied. Don’t just concentrate on only sight, you may miss out on sound and smell and touch.
7. Don’t try to hold on too tightly to wonderful life moments. If you live with intention and mindfulness there will always be more that is beautiful to experience.