Kickstarter #9 - Photos & Diaries

When waking up to a new day doesn’t excite you anymore, you are like an artist with a palate whose paint has dried up. When the canvas of life was once splashed full of colour and sprayed with fancy designs, you now you’re your life’s inadequate and bland. You wouldn’t even be able to put a colour pencil to good use. What’s gone wrong and how can life be like it was before?

The sad truth is - life can never be like it was before. The consolation is, if you’ve got records to show for it, it would be like holding up a kaleidoscope to the light and seeing the beautiful forms and colours all over again. We all know the value of photographs. Photographs are valuable possessions in every family, land and kingdom. They are visual records of a time past.

Here’s a tip - Dust off old photographs you’ve kept tucked away all these years and share a plough-through-the-album hour with a loved one. You’d be amazed how the old photos evoke so much memories and nostalgia – the happy times, the days when you were young, the holidays, the kids – ah look how tiny they were then, the head full of hair, your trim figure then. Flipping through a photo album is like opening the sluice gates of a time past, that flood our minds with memories – akin to discovering a treasure trove. You sit back, heave a sigh and mumble to yourselves, ‘Those were the days.”

Much to be thankful for don’t you think? Allow yourself to be brought back to that time. Close your eyes if it helps, and let those static photographs morph into a show reel that runs, projecting moving images and sound. Let the movie begin…and be prepared for LOL & T – or, lots of laughter and tears!

Memory jolters can also come in the form of diaries. Many school teachers encourage their students to journal. It crystallises the innermost thoughts and feelings, and charts all that happens during the day. If you keep a diary, refer to it for old times’ sake. It will help you see what you were and where you are presently in relation to your former circumstances. Reflect and count your many blessings. For the moments that seemed insurmountable before, look at how you’ve pulled through, how you’ve overcome what seemed impossible then.

When life loses a bit of momentum, don’t neglect the clicks and the flips - whip out old photographs and the yellowing diary for a nostalgic journey back in time. Aside from the blessings, consciously look out for unfulfilled aspirations, the promises that have been given but yet to be met, and make these your targets moving forward. Life will be so much more focused and purpose-driven when you know what remains to be done.