Your Place in this World: Are You Grateful For It?

I took these pictures in the fall of 2010 while working on a photo shoot in Calabasas, California. There were a few famous models being featured and about twenty five people in total between production staff and set crew. It was incredibly windy and we were vigilantly monitored by forestry officials to ensure that no fire hazards were left unattended--obviously, for good reason.

In the midst of the organized chaos that most photo shoots tend to be, this old leather chair--a set prop--commanded my attention more than anything else. The chair itself was beautiful and its positioning in the field with the rolling hills and mountains in the background was perfect.

It was a brilliant visual metaphor in so many ways. The image was almost prophetic. There were even moments when, between gusts of wind, I could almost hear it speaking to me. It was all very serendipitous as I was, at the time, longing for a sense of direction and feeling very small.

That chair mirrored how I felt about my place in this world. Instead of making strides to accomplish lofty goals, I was just present, doing what I had to do to get by because I had no other options. I was disappointed all the time and, in a way, things came to a head when I saw that chair: undeniably beautiful but sad. Then something magical happened.

One of the forestry officers was very kind and he and I spoke between takes. Gazing out across the landscape he whispered as if talking to himself, "Nothing here but dirt and dried grass, but I love this place."

At that moment I realized that nothing good would ever come to me until I learned to be grateful for my place in this world from moment to moment. No matter how hopeless or disillusioned I might become, if I wasn't grateful for simply having space to occupy and breath in my lungs, my ambitions would remain nothing but ideas. I would be left to sit in my metaphorical chair looking at all the opportunity around me, unable to grasp any of it because I wasn't grateful for where I was currently sitting.

You have a place in this world. Like everything else, that place will evolve over time. But it will either become an ever-confining cell or an expanse larger than you could have ever possibly imagined. What you are grateful for will determine this.