“Hope is a thing with feathers” — Emily Dickinson

October 30, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

–Photo by Jim Champion I came across a lovely poem today when my friend, Jeanne, asked me to read her some poetry via Skype.  She is recovering from surgery and needed me to do most the talking. I feel terrible for her! After reading the poem I thought of how fitting it is for today and why I have an insatiable love for poetry. Poetry is the language of the soul, and oftentimes, discovering the right one at the right time can […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: believe in oneself, better oneself, emily dickinson, feathers, female poets, hope, inspiring poetry, poetry

Getting Lost

May 13, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

 “Lost really has two disparate meanings. Losing things is about the familiar falling away, getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing. There are objects and people that disappear from your sight or knowledge or possession; you lose a bracelet, a friend, the key. You still know where you are. Everything is familiar except that there is one item less, one missing element. Or you get lost, in which case the world has become larger than your knowledge of it. Either […]

Categories: Photography, Weekend Instagrams • Tags: A Field Guide to Getting Lost, better oneself, challenges, finding meaning, getting lost, healthy living, human spirit, meditation, New York City, Photography, Rebecca Solnit, reflection, self reflection, yoga

A Lesson from Kevin Durant: Give out those SNAPS, who cares if you cry.

May 8, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

He saw that all the struggles of life were incessant, laborious, painful, that nothing was done quickly, without labor, that it had to undergo a thousand fondlings, revisings, moldings, addings, removings, graftings, tearings, correctings, smoothings, rebuildings, reconsiderings, nailings, tackings, chippings, hammerings, hoistings, connectings — all the poor fumbling uncertain incompletions of human endeavor. They went on forever and were forever incomplete, far from perfect, refined, or smooth…yet, in the way of things, somehow noble, complete, and shining in the end.” […]

Categories: Good Company, Photography • Tags: better oneself, challenges, family, Jack Kerouac, Kevin Durant, meditation, Pap, reflection, self reflection, struggle, The Town and the City, yoga

Thoughtful Tuesdays: Connecting through our “soul volumes”

March 11, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

I found myself inspired to write today but without a journal. Typically, choosing a journal is a huge deliberation. I consider size, thickness of paper, lined versus unlined, hard versus soft cover, does it have character, how does it feel in my hands, how does it fit in my bag… a senseless batch of preferences. But today, I found a notebook in our supply room and it struck me as the perfect new journal to start – simply because it […]

Categories: Photography, Writers & Writing, Yoga • Tags: all too human, amy tan, better oneself, By Heart, connecting, Dorthe Nor, Friedrich Nietzsche, human, human spirit, Ingmar Bergman, inspiring quotes, language as power, mary oliver, meditation, meditation challenge, Nepal, Pablo Neruda, poetry, quotes to live by, self reflection, solitude, Stupa, The Atlantic

Thomas Merton…. Happy Birthday.

January 31, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

​“Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.” ― Thomas Merton​ Happy Birthday to Thomas Merton (1915-1968), a lifelong student of comparative religion, poetry and understanding the human experience. Merton is best known for popularizing interspirituality, an all-inclusive practice […]

Categories: Photography, Writers & Writing • Tags: aaron huey, Asian religions, better oneself, Brahmachari, Buddhism, Chakra meditation, challenges, Christianity, comparative religion, Eastern religion, healthy living, human experience, human spirit, Interfaith, Interspirituality, meditation, reflection, religion, self reflection, spirituality, Sufi, Sufi photograph, Sufism, Thomas Merton, Trappist

At 19, almost didn’t return. At 21, denied further study. “Now how ’bout that,” my Pap would have said..

January 15, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

Meaningful discourse is a powerful thing; we have all experienced essays, poems, lectures, documentaries, or speeches that riveted us in a way we couldn’t fully explain.  Something about it made us feel something, a moment worth so much. I write mainly because my whole life has been a steady search for compelling words from authors, poets, artists, and the people I love most in my life. I am addicted to that feeling.  And I like to share it on this blog. […]

Categories: Yoga • Tags: better oneself, Buddhism, challenges, depression, Douglas Brooks, finding meaning, good company, gratitude, healthy living, Hinduism, human spirit, mental health, Photography, reflection, self reflection, take five program, university of rochester religion, yoga

“your place… in the family of things” Mary Oliver

January 13, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

To complement your Monday afternoon: another piece by Mary Oliver, a note on saying talk to the hand! to loneliness and photos taken in my neighborhood of a lovely man I see nearly every day (haven’t had the guts to capture his face yet). I recently had a conversation with my dear friend, Tara, about how enormous loneliness can feel when evoked by certain life experiences (ie, losing a loved one, going through a break-up, living far away, etc.).  If Tara […]

Categories: Good Company, Photography, Yoga • Tags: better oneself, challenges, family of things, finding depth, finding meaning, friends, gratitude, healthy living, human spirit, mary oliver, meditation, mental health, New York City, Photography, Portrait Photography, reflection, self reflection

A Family Project: Inspiration Boards from Cincinnati, Ohio

January 8, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

So what’s the point of having magazine subscriptions if you aren’t tearing out pictures you love, cutting out inspirational messages, and even mailing something to a loved one that made you think of them? I got started on this at a young age because my Pap (seen here) used to cut out newspaper clips and send them to me in the mail. Following his example, I keep a folder of tear outs and would never throw out a magazine without […]

Categories: Good Company, Photography • Tags: better oneself, family, goals, good company, gratitude, healthy living, human spirit, inspiration boards, looking forward, magazine subscriptions, meditation, mental health, mood boards, new year, reflection, self reflection, setting goals, travel photography, vision boards, yoga

Cab Fare: Lessons from a Sikh

January 2, 2014 by Jenna Filia Canty

I hope you enjoy my new series on taxi drivers in New York City. My goal is to ask the questions I love to ask, take a photo, and share them both with you. Here is my first one from New Years Eve.  Thanks for reading. It was 7pm on New Years Eve and I had no plans for the evening. I stopped at Adorama to sell a few things and perused the used cameras while I was there. What […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: better oneself, cab drivers, Chakra meditation, challenges, finding meaning, human spirit, New York City, Photography, reflection, sikh, sikhism, yoga