Defining Purpose

An original idea appears to only be original until one looks it up on the internet.  I had the idea that I would record my life in 2012 through a picture and paragraph a day.  Apparently someone had this idea years ago, but I will not let that deter my ambition.


I spent days thinking about an appropriate title for this venture.  Essentially I feel that the purpose is to make meaning out of my day to day life.  I have become victim to the dreaded future life syndrome.  I find myself thinking that I will enjoy my life more when I make changes in the future.  The truth is I am alive now.   As Ralph Waldo Emerson has said, "we are always getting to live, but never living."


The title, "Reclaiming Experience" comes from a textbook for my elective class I will be taking next term.  Flow by Csikszentmihalyi, is about happiness, but not the typical perception.  In his section about reclaiming experience he says that, "the most important step in emancipating oneself from social controls is the ability to find rewards in the events of each moment."


That is it the goal of this endeavor.  I am hoping to use this blog as a tool for recording my experiences as well as evaluating my day-to-day life.  With my camera in hand, I will make meaning out of my life.