#137: When The Circumstances Don't Show Up in the Vacation Photo

In today's episode, I pose a question: when you look at a picture, do you see the circumstances behind the photo? And do they matter?

I recently returned from an Alaskan cruise, and had an amazing time seeing the sights. On one morning, I took dozens of pictures as we sailed up Endicott Arm toward Dawes Glacier. Everything about this moment was perfect; the weather, the light, the glacier. 

Oh, also, I had COVID. 

But did that really matter? If you looked at the pictures I took, would you even care about that? Will I care about that years from now?

In this episode, I argue for the idea that the circumstances or conditions of our present moment may not matter as much in the long run.

As always, thanks for listening!

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Website: https://drthor.tv/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I've just returned from vacation and I want to
share with you a picture that Itook while I was on vacation.
Now, if you're watching this onYouTube, I'll show you the
picture.
If not, if you're listening tothe podcast, imagine this you're
sailing up this glacier fjordin Alaska.
This is Endicott Arm.

(00:22):
I'm sailing up here on the shiplooking out at this amazing
scenery.
When we turn the corner and wesee the sunlight beaming down on
this amazing glacier that we'vebeen sailing to reach for about
an hour or so, it's earlymorning.
It's just the most spectacularscene you could possibly imagine

(00:44):
.
Now here's the thing about thisphoto.
When I took this photo, I hadCOVID.
Today, I want to talk about howthe circumstances don't show up
in the final picture.
Welcome to.
Every Day, a New Thought.
I'm Thor Chalgren.
Every weekday, I share one newthought.

(01:04):
Today's thought is inspired bymy recent trip to Alaska.
I went on a cruise with a bunchof people from my spiritual
center and we saw amazing sightson this trip.
There were whales, so manywhales I lost track.
Bears, bald eagles, glaciers.
On Wednesday, in the middle ofthis trip, we were sailing into

(01:28):
Endicott Arm, which is thisNorwegian fjord looking very
narrow fjord that you sail up Atthe end of this is Dawes
Glacier.
This was about maybe seveno'clock in the morning.
I'm out on my balcony takingpictures.
I probably took at least two orthree dozen pictures, because

(01:51):
every time you turn the corneryou thought, oh, this is the
most amazing thing I've everseen.
Then you turn the corner andthere would be something even
more amazing At the end of it.
You turn the corner and youfinally see the glacier.
It's just incredible.
The whole time I'm takingpictures I had COVID.
About five hours before thishappened I'd kind of woken up in

(02:13):
the middle of the night, didn'tfeel great.
I went into the bathroom andtook a test and discovered that,
yes, for the first time inthree and a half years I had
finally gotten COVID.
I put a mask on, went back tosleep.
I get up in the morning becausewe start sailing into this
fjord at five o'clock in themorning.

(02:33):
I want to see this.
I put on a heavy coat, go out,sit on the balcony, and I'm
going out and taking picturesthis whole time.
I don't care how I feel,because this is the most amazing
thing I've ever seen.
What's fascinating to me is, ifyou look at these pictures now,

(02:54):
of course, you'll never knowwhat my circumstances were when
I took the picture.
You wouldn't know by looking atthe picture like, oh yeah, he's
got COVID when he's taking thatpicture.
You're just going to think thatis an amazing picture and
there's going to be nothing thatyou would ever know about that
picture.
I'm the only one that knowsthat.

(03:14):
In truth, years from now, Iprobably won't even remember
that particular detail.
It's like when you on your phone, when the memories come up of,
oh, this is a memory from twoyears ago, three years ago, 10
years ago, I'm probably justgoing to look at that picture
and go, that's an amazingpicture.
I'm not going to be thinkingabout the fact that I didn't
feel great or that I had COVIDduring this picture.

(03:36):
So my point in sharing this isthat the circumstances of the
moment don't show up in thepicture On that iPhone screen.
Years from now, when thatpicture comes up, I'm not going
to look at it and go, well, yeah, I mean that's a pretty good
looking picture, but honestly,oh god, can you remember I had
COVID when this was taken?

(03:57):
No, it's only me that adds thatsort of mental caption to the
photo or into the memory, if Ichoose to, and if I don't choose
to add that caption, thatmental memory, then what I'm
actually left with is a prettypicture.
The photo is what endures, notthe temporary condition.

(04:21):
So if you have some temporarycondition or circumstance or
challenge in your life, think ofit as taking a photo in that
moment and finding what's goodin that moment, what's amazing
in that moment, and just knowthat the circumstance of
whatever challenge you're facingin that moment, it's going to

(04:43):
fade in time and what you willbe left with is the amazing
memory.
That's the show for today.
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Until next time.
Thanks for listening.