I started writing this post while I was taking the train from Casablanca to Rabat. I had already spent an 8+ hour’s flight earlier that day from Qatar to Morocco and where something fascinating happened to me.

For someone who travels as much as I do, you get used to particularly all the parts of the experience, nothing is as fascinating anymore. The safety procedures on the plane, the in-flight entertainment, “the annoying passengers”, the cute and adorable kids who makes your life worth that one moment when they smile at you, and the other small devils who make you want to stop wanting to have kids.

Irrespective of all the parts that collectively bring up your travel experience. There’s one element in particular I’d like to pause and reflect on this week, which is the world outside of your car, metro, train or plane.

The reason of the introduction is simply to highlight those of us who look, but don’t see… Who stare but don’t enjoy… Who watch but don’t enjoy, who can be so captivated into “capturing the moment” and worrying that the beautiful moment would be better captured on the phone / camera rather than in the memory. and Guess what, at some points I’m guilty of these charges. I’m used to the fact to use my mobile to capture great moments… That Later on I admire the image  but the experience itself doesn’t mean much to me. 

This time, and while the plane was going down to the beautiful Casablanca, we were still up in the sky… Above the clouds, and as usual, I held my phone and started taking photos… Worrying about how to capture a good shot to post online when an adorable baby girl who was sitting in the seat in front of me started “playing” a small game with me. She was probably little more than 1 year old, she kept on standing on her seat, look at me and smile then disappear, to reappear again in about 10 seconds.

This annoying, yet VERY adorable gesture, kept me from well positioning my phone towards the window, so I kept playing with the baby girl, (simply smiling and shading my eyes away every time was enough), and then I noticed her mother admiring her daughter… and she looked back at me and told me: “This is the best time of my life”.

The mother was not trying to capture that moment on a technological device, fearing that it will be forgotten. But instead she was not wasting a second of Enjoying this priceless moment. And that got me thinking…

I set my phone away, and tried to enjoy the view… and believe it or not… Those 10 minutes of admiring the clouds that resembled to snow mountains while the plane is so close to them is still vivid in my head than probably 100 other photos in my phone of the same topic.

So the tip for this week is as follow, from time to time, take some time to relax and look outside… Look, See and Feel  the moment… Because what makes a priceless moment will always, that associated feeling… and Not the quality of the captured photo.

Have a nice week!

SC

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project