Present

The eyes do have it. Probably the most important thing in photo shoots is getting a connection between the subject and my lens.
Most often it's about the eyes. They tell a lot about someone and they rarely lie. You don't get a connection simply by shoving a camera in someone's face.
It instead requires an open heart and being completely present.
In reading a book about worrying recently, I realize how much of my time I spend on the little itty bitty details. I miss the moment I am in because I am thinking about and preparing for what is next.

Example: When someone is talking, I want to listen wholeheartedly. Instead however, I am multi-tasking. I am partially listening, thinking about what I am going to say in response, what I need to do right after this, whether there is enough time to get done what is on my list, something I need from the grocery, a card I need to send, etc...

My mind is filled with highly unimportant distractions that keep me from being connected and present with the person I am with.

"What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. " Ecclesiastes 2: 22-23

I hate that about myself.

I want to turn off those voices in my head, but I just don't know how.

When I am taking pictures though, I feel like a completely different person. I am in the moment. I can hardly hear any noises around me. It is if I am in a vacuum with my subject. (Insert your own really cool special effect here.) I am patient and my usually anxious heart is still, so still. This place is peaceful.

No wonder God speaks to me in nature and through my lens. Heck, that may be the only time I am still enough to listen.

"Be still, and know that I am God;" Psalms 46:10a
He's already prompted me to Know Him.
Now I need to learn how to be still.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Ok, so it starts not with action but conversation.
Even though I still start my day with a to-do list, I have started to first pray that this day be His. Sometimes that means that I don't get to scratch anything off on MY list. You know, even when that happens, I never doubt that those days went exactly as they should. And there is so much peace in that.

I have also begun to ask Him for help in resolving those itty bitty details that are consuming my thoughts. So far He's 3 for 3. He answered quickly, as He knows me and my short attention span. Imagine what He could do if I could only be present more.

I love how He has blessed me with something I love to do, and is using that same thing to teach and sharpen me.
He's presently using a present to teach me about being present.
(And He knows how I love those double-meanings.)