Our rental car bumped and jostled as we made our way along the rough unpaved road to reach Black Rock Lodge, nestled in the Mayan Mountains of Belize above the banks of the Macal River. We had been driving through open countryside for two hours, but could now see the edge of the jungle ahead.
Something odd caught my eye.
A large stand of light grey straight-trunked trees with no other vegetation growing beneath their canopy stood in stark contrast to the wild diversity of the dense rain forest in the background.
I wasn’t alone in my curiosity. The whole family was struck by the strangeness of these trees, their differentness hard to pinpoint.
My logic center finally came online and I realized this was a tree farm: teak trees, it turned out. Perfect rows of identical trees planted in a perfect rectangle.
Plopped as it was on the edge of tropical wildness, the teak forest felt like a magic portal to another world. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe came to mind, but so did the ominous scene in A Wrinkle in Time depicting a neighborhood of identical houses with kids bouncing identical balls in their driveways in perfect synch, nobody allowed to be different.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the teak forest during our four-day stay at Black Rock. The morning of our departure, I rose before sunrise to try to capture some of its magic with my camera.
Spoiler alert: I failed.
In Over My Head
The trees covered about an acre of land, by my guess. I parked and headed into the middle of the stand with my camera and tripod.
I realized quickly that my photography skill set was not suited to this challenge – huge subjects, low light, and equipment that I’m familiar with using for close-up photography. Macro photography has been an unexpected gift of my mindfulness journey, another arm of my practice.
I haven’t devoted any time to learning about landscapes, however, so my toolbox was empty in that forest.
But it wasn’t only that I was outside of my photography comfort zone. In the middle of the forest, I didn’t feel the same mystery that I had felt on the outside. It was a literal example of not being able to see the forest for the trees.
From the inside, I lost the big picture.
The problem was, I was pressed for time. We had a plane to catch home that day and a two-and-a-half hour drive to reach the airport. I spent the time I had making frustrating attempts at inside-the-forest photos. It wasn’t until I packed up and came back to the car that I noticed the magic was back as soon as I had the whole view in my field of vision.
I took a few quick shots from a bit of a distance, but they still don’t evoke the mystery I had hoped to capture.
It didn’t matter.
The Truly Important Lessons Were Clear
Diversified focus skills are essential if we are to experience life fully.
I’m not talking about the camera. I’m talking about our capacity to focus our awareness on the details AND the broader view, and to know how to intentionally shift between the two perspectives when necessary.
The good news is that both types of focus are trainable skills.
Focused attention meditation, choosing an anchor point such as the breath, trains us to see the fine details.
Open awareness meditation, widening the lens to simply observe without judgment whatever thoughts and feelings float into our awareness, trains us to see the big picture.
Walking into the darkness of the teak forest expecting to capture its spookiness was disappointing because it actually turned out to be not as dark, not as spooky as it had seemed from the outside. Taking off my photographer hat, it was a good reminder that things are never as dark as we imagine them to be once we’re brave enough to actually take an honest look.
Stepping outside of the forest, I had an immediate sense of “Oh! I get it!” Mystery was still in the picture, but it had a joyful spark to it. It’s the same feeling I experience so often during meditation: the feeling of insight.
I could see the orderliness of it all with a bit of distance.
So while I didn’t come away satisfied that my photography skills were up to the original task I had set out for, I did come away more convinced than ever of the life-enhancing impact of mindfulness meditation practice.
Interested in strengthening and diversifying your focus skills?
My first 30-Day Mindfulness Meditation Challenge of the year begins on Friday, February 1st
Live support, accountability, and circuit training for your mindfulness muscles all from the comfort of your own home. What could be easier?
I’d love to have you join our circle!
Click here to learn more and register!
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