Paul Cotter
The Light Behind the Trees
My hematologist told a story about one of her patients suffering from an incurable blood cancer. To her surprise, he was incredibly...
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Paul Cotter
Nov 131 min read
Water Under the Bridge
I stood on a footbridge in Freedom Park, watching the reflections of trees and sky in the creek below. Later on, I did some reflecting of...
Paul Cotter
Nov 62 min read
The Same Force
We don’t have to travel to another country to find sights that fill us with wonder. It can happen right in our own backyard. After we...
Paul Cotter
Aug 62 min read
Tangled
It’s easy to get wrapped up in things in a way we never intended. When that happens, it can be difficult (and sometimes impossible) to...
Paul Cotter
Aug 12 min read
Everything
It was an ordinary morning that became an extraordinary one for a very simple reason: I gave it my fullest attention. And that...
Paul Cotter
Jul 151 min read
The Dead Lizard
As temperatures in Charlotte hit the mid-90s last week, our upstairs air conditioning unit broke down in the middle of the night. A check...
Paul Cotter
Jun 52 min read
Inseparable
I hadn’t thought about my old childhood friend in a long time. It’s been almost 60 years since we last hung out together. Over the years,...
Paul Cotter
May 282 min read
The Song of Flowers
Flowers have a lilting lyrical quality to them. They have no voice, and yet they sing. They sing of life and wonder and beauty, the...
Paul Cotter
Apr 172 min read
The Whisper
SHHHHHHHHHH! Let your mind go quiet. Listen. When we do, we can tap into a source of creativity that’s far beyond anything we can...
Paul Cotter
Mar 202 min read
Unity and Variety
I've always wondered: why do so many people want others to be exactly like them? They won’t be happy unless everyone else looks like...
Paul Cotter
Mar 61 min read
Returning to the Source
As I photographed this beach in Southern California, I was mesmerized by the water pouring into the inlet and then withdrawing back into...
Paul Cotter
Jan 171 min read
The Flower in the Cold
Two weeks ago, on a cold January day in Charlotte, our granddaughter Lily spotted a colorful surprise. As we walked down our front steps,...
Paul Cotter
Dec 18, 20231 min read
A Holiday Message
With the holidays in full swing and 2023 drawing to a close, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for visiting Paul's Reflections. The...
Paul Cotter
Dec 6, 20231 min read
The Sidewalk Map
When I saw these leaves on a cracked sidewalk, I thought the divided pavement looked like countries on a map. I wondered: Do the leaves...
Paul Cotter
Nov 8, 20232 min read
What We See
An interesting thing happened when I photographed Hickory Nut Falls at Chimney Rock State Park last week. This 404-foot falls, located...
Paul Cotter
Nov 1, 20232 min read
The Love of Leaves
One of my earliest childhood memories is walking through fallen leaves on a crisp autumn day. I was shuffling my feet through the dry...
Paul Cotter
Oct 26, 20232 min read
Holding Hands (Part Two)
At the end of our Nova Scotia trip, we drove along the coast of Cape Breton Island, looking to find a scenic spot to catch a sunset. I...
Paul Cotter
Oct 20, 20231 min read
Holding Hands (Part One)
On a wooded trail in Nova Scotia I noticed the roots of these trees, intertwined as if they were holding hands. It was a tender, intimate...
Paul Cotter
Oct 9, 20231 min read
Low Tide, High Tide
At the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick, we witnessed a remarkable phenomenon: the highest tides in the world, and a massive difference...
Paul Cotter
Sep 30, 20231 min read
Seeing Beyond
Infinite vastness, obscured by myriad things like the rocks that seem so real but only serve to block our view of the mysteries beyond....
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