scribblechic

I resisted family pictures for years, hiding my insecurities by avoiding the camera. I suppose we are all our worst critic, the camera so often a magnifying glass for the truths we distort with self-talk born of inaccurate comparisons; younger selves and older selves, others and ours all contrasted in the context of contentment.

The holidays are a temptation of comparison. Like the choreography of clothing in frenzied moments to intentionally create a casually unintentional image of family, our postmarked wishes are our Sunday best with the sound turned down. We cannot hear the difficult pieces of complicated worries any more than the ricochet of giggles that ripple between frames.

Look to the eyes for markers of joy, there the soul is most unguarded, but do not linger in another’s expression of happiness to mark the value of your own experiences.

Never compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides. – Anne Lamott

Tagged: Christmas, Musings, Photographs