Thursday, March 29, 2007

Breathe In The Spring

It was difficult to meet my own challenge yesterday of trying to have one mind. The day was very busy and I felt pulled in a thousand directions. When I finally felt a little overwhelmed, I did sneak down the stairs for a quiet and solitary moment in the first floor break room. There I am usually just another face in the crowd and no one bothers me. Even the people who knew me and saw me seemed to sense my need and they ignored me. I am not anti social but sometimes I simply must be alone. I was happy to be lost in my own thoughts. When the work day finally came to an end, I walked slowly through the park to my car. The smells of spring filled the air. The dogwood blossoms caressed me in their fragrant aroma and my spirit was lifted. Driving home along the interstate I was suddenly aware of how much the grays of winter had been transformed into the multi colored palette of spring. The trees and bushes were in the first stages of what will become the full blossoming of summer. Mixed into the green were the sporadic purples and yellows and the whites of more dogwoods. How could one not feel renewed by this perennial but still miraculous rebirth of nature? I simply must start taking the time to occasionally escape the demands of the work day and slip outside for a breath of air and a shot of beauty. Even Chloe, at her precious young age, senses the beauty of what is going on in nature at this time. Now when she comes over she grabs my arm and wants to go outside for a walk. The sense of wonder and excitement that children have naturally is what we adults need to recapture. We get all caught up in our grown up affairs and we loose our connection with the wonder and beauty of life. No wonder so many of us are mentally exhausted, physically tired, and emotionally drained. Spring is an excellent time to reconnect with life since it is happening all around us. There are three books that I would recommend to help you regain your sense of wonder and appreciation of nature. One of my all time favorite books is Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau. Another book that is mostly pictures is The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson. Finally, I offer Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. If you read these books you will never look at a tree, a leaf, a frog, or a pond quite the same. In these seemingly ordinary things you will learn to see magic.

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