}

August 15, 2004

Life Trove (2004 - )

Purpose


A living, organic record of me, my life journey and beings I shared the journey with
  • A coherent expression of my values (Oneness, Love, Lover of life, Connection, Sacredness, Wisdom, Insight, Wonder, Beauty, Creativity)
  • A record of those I loved, connected with.
  • A record of my photos and my photographic journey.
  • A record of my passion projects and their unfolding.
  • A record of my personal growth and insights. (Compass in action)
  • My memoir & spiritual journey (Progress, moments, spiritual moments, special connections, teachers, healers, books, events, insights, challenges)
  • A record of my time in history. Technology, internet, digital, cameras, movies.

An expression of gratitude & appreciation
  • A celebration of all I most value (a key aspect of meaning)
  • A celebration of my life and my most cherished relationships, connections, memories, experiences, moments.
  • A gratitude journal →  Love, Lover of life →  Spiritual power
  • A curation of all that I treasure most. Priceless memories, moments, special connections, photos, blessings, insights, my spiritual journey.
  • The joy of regularly looking back and & reliving & savouring. (E.g. through random memory)
  • Story telling & appreciation, especially humour & insight.
  • A celebration of Life as experience: Special moments and connections.
  • A record of gratitude expressed to others, lists of things to be grateful for, progress, service and connection, food, moments, spiritual moments, synchronicities, mystical experiences, insights, challenges overcome.

A celebration of wonder and beauty
  • Inspired me to take up photography in 1st place and see, capture and share beauty.
  • A celebration of wonder, beauty and the sacredness and the specialness of life and the world.
  • Celebration of the world and life as God's work of art.
  • Photos of wonder and beauty, poems, spiritual writing, moments.

Deepening intimacy with life (past, present & future)
  • A form of appreciating & savouring of past, present and future.
  • A sense of purpose in terms of life experiences.
  • An incentive to get out and experience.
  • Taking photos by being in senses, noticing beauty plus excitement for blog
  • Editing and blogging - reliving and sharing with others (there and not there)
  • Revisiting (time dividend). Savouring the past.
  • Add to photo collection for Wonder Trove

Connectedness to The Ground of Being (Life)
  • Life Trove is an integral part of my relationship with Life.
  • A lover & celebrator of Life
  • Adds to my love of Life + Sense of Meaning (Coherence, Purpose, Significance) + Gratitude, Appreciation, Celebration → Deepens my connectedness to Being and access to spiritual power.
  • Presence while experiencing through photographing while in my senses. Noticing. Clear seeing without labels.
  • A sense of divine order, orchestration and benevolence.
  • Like Life Trove with labels, no experience is lost but vibrates in the timeless Now with experience fields.
  • A form of life appreciation & reflection. A taste of a life review in the between life realm where I get to reflect on this life & others with all memories accessible.

Inspires me to live fully & deeply, getting up & out, embracing adventures
  • Inspired me to take up photography.
  • Inspires me to get out more, to experience and explore more, to embrace life more, to take photos.  Embrace new experiences and adventures.
  • Travel, Outings, Photography, MeetUps
  • Purpose: Get out and take photos to enrich blog. Joy of taking photos in Presence.  Joy of editing and curating (reliving). Joy of remembering years later.
  • Incentive to get out and take photos, add to my collection of photos and memories. 
  • Enjoyment while I'm out in the world. Noticing and photographing.  "This will be great for my blog."  "This will be remembered."
  • Wishing to live an inspiring life worth blogging about.
  • Through my photography, gave rise to Arctic, Antarctica, Iceland & Greenland, Kruger.
  • A record of progresss → Momentum & motivation
  • Sean: "Amazing zest for life."

Increase well-being & resilience
  • Looking back at happy memories and photos increases happiness. Memory dividend.
  • Emotional well-being: Happiness, lift mood, Serotonin & oxytocin.
  • Resilience in tough times when challenges arise. Remember Xmas 2005.
  • Nostalgia & reminiscence: Nostalgia often increases feelings of meaning, belonging, identity continuity, and emotional warmth.
  • A sense of meaning (purpose, coherence, significance, value)
  • A sense of progress.
  • A sense of a life fully lived.
  • Mood chart giving perspective.
  • Record of challenges transcended or not eventuating.
  • Calms and soothes me: Life in order, Meaning, Nostalgia, Perspective, Softens hard times, they ended up ok

Add meaning (purpose, significance, coherence, value), perspective, insight to my life
  • Coherence: Self as a narrative
  • Value: Knowing what I value and living by that.
  • A sense of life in order
  • Provide perspective on my life (big picture, see the journey and evolution, find meaning)
  • An incentive to self-reflection and recording of lessons and insights.
  • Recognise my story as a fiction I can enjoy but not be overly identified with (It's a movie and Graeme is a character)
  • See the perfect mosaic of my life's unfolding, how it brought me to this moment  → Benevolence & Trust
  • Narrative therapy: An affirming story that empowers. Reframing the past. Celebration of the journey, growth, expansion & insights.
  • Record of my insights, learnings, reflections & books
  • A source of info for AI to create self-insight from

A treasure trove of memories & moments to savour and reflect on
  • Looking at old photos and memories makes us happy.
  • Collector's instinct: Collecting memories & experiences.
  • Creating memories is one of the very purposes of life. I am a memory curator / collector.
  • Keeps important memories organized and readily accessible, avoiding the risk of physical loss and fading.
  • Look back and savour my life memories, the experiences I had. Nostalgia & reminiscense.
  • Labels & highlights: All memories of a particular year, person, place, trip.
  • Keeps memories alive. Memories crystalised and immortalised. Freezes time.
  • Increases the value of experiences. Makes them worth investing in.
  • Collecting memories (experiences) over things. Memory dividend.
  • Family memories and research.  A sense of continuity, connection with past family members, pets & friends. Keeping their memory alive.
  • Resilence and reminder of good times in midst of challenging times.
  • Look back in old age and savour my life memories.
  • Annual highlights and reviews
  • Beauty of nostalgia

Creative expression: A work of art
  • Photography as a creative art.
  • My life as a work of art.
  • Life Trove as a work of art.
  • A platform to express sentiments through photos, writing, poetry and storytelling.
  • Incentive to express love in creative ways.
  • Curation of all I treasure, created, selected, arranged and ordered, related, shared, made accessible.

Integrates with and adds to Wisdom Trove & Compass
  • Compass → Life Trove:  Record my progress, share different facets of Compass in action, spiritual journey shared.
  • Wisdom Trove → Life Trove (Profile link)
  • Life Trove  → Compass:  Reflecting, recording, gratitude, curating.
  • Life Trove   →  Wisdom Trove:  Html skills, inspired multiple views & overviews, curating, links to quotes & books.

Deepens love and connection with family and friends
  • A way to express love and gratitude  (tributes, letters, videos, cards, songs)
  • A way to be fully open. Let others in.  Open up and share my experience.
  • Connect to mum and Jo and close friends, giving them a sense of my life experience.
  • Keep mum, Mike and Jo intimately involved in my life despite distance. Close friends too.
  • Posts labeled with loved ones, allowing me to savour the relationships.
  • Enables tribute videos  (Jo, Elna, Shushann, Liz)
  • Enables tribute songs (Mum, Jo, Tina)
  • Enables letters & cards (Mum, Jo, Sam, Matt, Sue, Jilly, Chrisel, Tina)
  • Give loved ones a window into me: Openness, intimacy, authenticity, realness.
  • In my life-time, geared at people I know and cherish, not strangers.
  • Family members past: Celebrating their lives, keeping their memories alive.

A family & cultural legacy
  • Treasured moments, family photos and stories are captured for future generations.
  • Sam, Mat, their kids
  • Vanderbecks
  • Family research
  • Photo and letter archives
  • A record of a life in my era. A time capsule.
  • A record of a mystic and lover / student of life.
  • A link at my funeral (slide show, program)

Encouragement and affirmation from people I care about
  • Not thousands of strangers (privacy, pressure, judgement).
  • Deeply drunk by loved ones. Mum, Jo, Srini, Gavin, Liz, Shushann, Chris, Russell, Julian, Dani, Jane, Trish, Ana (English student)
  • A record of beautiful, affirming comments over time → Confidence, love, connection.

Inspires others to appreciate life, live fully and to blog.
  • Inspire others to embrace and appreciate life and its sacredness.
  • Inspire others to live life to the full.
  • Inspire others to curate their lives.
  • Raise consciousness of people who view it.
  • Open eyes to wonder, beauty, sacredness, oneness and joy of life 

Developed skills
  • Html: Ability to create sites (Wisdom Trove, sites for others)
  • Photography and photography editing


Vision  



Gratitude, Appreciation, Celebration, Savouring
  • A lovingly curated collection of all I love and cherish most

Look back and savour
  • Regular look backs through "random memory"
  • Look back in old age and savour my life memories.
  • A sense of meaning, coherence and divine order.
  • Nostalgia, Reminiscence
  • Gratitude & appreciation

Life Trove & Life as a work of art
  • Creative, So much love invested
  • My life as a work of art. A beautiful narrative.

“Wow, he really embraces life and lives it to the full. I can too."
  • My entire life curated showing a full life of a passionate liver, lover of life and the world, artist at living, spiritual mystic and photographer.
  • Link at my funeral + Content for slideshow

An expression of love and gratitude
  • Photos, letters, cards, tributes, videos, songs, memories.
  • A celebration of a full, greatly appreciated life.

Connection & authenticity
  • An expression of pure openness, allowing myself to be seen.
  • Loved ones able to share my experiences → Intimacy.
  • A sense of family, memories to celebrate.
  • Love & gratitude expressed

Future family and cultural record
  • A record for future family members.
  • Looked back at by future generations as one of the first and purest examples of digital life curation: a work of art.
  • Added to digital archives. A time capsule.


Guiding Principles



Life in order, Coherence
  • Coherence: Meaningful connection between parts, fitting together to form a unified whole.
  • Narrative, Life as story (a meaningful, coherent collection of experiences), Life journey
  • Order: Systematic arrangement, Clear structure
  • User friendly
  • Easy access (Left nav highlights, Introductions with lists, Labels, Related posts)
  • Multiple views (left navigation, landing page links, post labels, related links)
  • Overviews (Helicopter view) → Detail
  • Up to date
  • Divine order and orchestration, Benevolence, Gratitude

Life curation
  • Experience collecting & curating
  • Experience & photograph →  Select, Edit, Arrange & Order →  Publish and Share →  Revisit & Savour
  • Collect memories, moments, connections and photos of things I cherish.

Meaning (Purpose, Coherence, Significance)
  • Big picture, Perspective
  • Life as a journey
  • Turning experience into meaning & wisdom
  • Life as a coherent, integrated narrative → Divine order
  • Self-identity & self-discovery
  • Expression of life orchestration, divine order → Trust,  Divine benevolence
  • Life Trove as an incentive to get up and out in the world

Appreciation, Gratitude, Celebration, Savouring
  • Celebration of all I treasure most
  • Sacredness of life experience: a gift to appreciate and savour
  • Wonder, Beauty
  • Sacredness of all
  • Gratitude,  Appreciation, Awareness of Grace & Blessings
  • Recognise what really matters
  • Carpe diem,  Embrace living, Lover of Life
  • Enjoyment, Savouring, Fun
  • Reminiscence, Nostalgia, Anticipation
  • Tributes: Posts honouring people, places, and objects that shaped my life.

Up & Out in the World
  • Exploration, Travel
  • Adventure
  • Nature, Wilderness

Life & spirituality as an unfolding journey
  • Journey of a mystic: Awakenings, spiritual moments, insights
  • Spirituality as a journey
  • Life as a narrative / story
  • See my growth and evolution over time
  • Life divided into meaningful eras
  • Synchronicity
  • Spiritual moments
  • Divine order, Divine benevolence

Love & Connection
  • Love expressed
  • Loving the beings I share life's journey with and the experiences we've shared
  • Expressing love and gratitude
  • Tributes, Videos, Letters, Cards, Songs
  • Lover of life
  • Loving being this character
  • Connection to Life, Love of Life

Wisdom & Insight
  • Learning, Insights
  • Growth, Transformation
  • Reflection
  • Teachers, Therapists, Books
  • Growth, Evolution, Sel-transcedence
  • Transcendence over limitations

Authenticity, Realness, Intimacy
  • The hard bits and the wonderful bits
  • My challenges & limitations
  • Openness, Vulnerability, Intimacy

Accessibility
  • Easy to find a memory
  • Browsing: Few clicks
  • Introductions
  • Labels
  • Descriptive title → Easy search

Accessibility to experience fields  (through labels & lists)
  • By place: Country, city, landmark (e.g. Cape Town, Table Mountain, Clifton)
  • By person
  • By year
  • By travel / trip period (e.g. 1997 travels, South Africa 2023)
  • By activity or interest (e.g. hiking, nature, movies, passion projects, technology)
  • By theme of experience: (eg. sunsets, eagles, boats, mountains, beaches)


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