Trees Breathing

Recently, I had the incredible experience of staying with a friend in a cabin in the woods. One of my favorite activities was walking among the trees. Looking up at those that soared above me, my heart filled with awe. Their majestic stance along with the silence of the otherwise empty forest left me without words.

My mind emptied. My eyes absorbed the beauty. My ears tuned in to the breath of nature. My heart slowed, as did my normally hurried pace. My nostrils took in the greenness of the area. I felt comforted by the loveliness and calm of my surroundings.

When we have experiences like this, especially after the rush and bother of our routines, it opens us to a changed view of ourselves in relationship to the wider world. It also reminds us that we are not here to conquer nature, but to live with it, to cherish it, to protect it. We need those moments of listening to the trees breathing, those moments of stillness, those moments of recognizing there is more to this world.

Being in that forest refreshed me. I returned to my routine life feeling less absorbed in me. It also presented me with a renewed vision of connection and relevance. The trees reminded me that even a brief time with them is revitalizing ~ and that I don't have to find my way to the woodlands to experience it. There are trees all around various parts of my neighborhood. Maybe next time, I'll slow down and commune with them as well!

Where do you find refreshment? How do you respond to the 'voices' of nature? What moves you to slow down? What is most important in your life? How do you combine and protect all that strike you as important?

Sum Total

"Life did not begin at my birth. ... I am the sum total of [others'] experiences, their quests."

Although my thoughts and my dreams often circle around my personal life, I am continually expanding those horizons. I have the choice of limiting myself, of putting blinders on. All I see then is what's in front of my own face. It's easier to live that way. I don't have to see, acknowledge or encounter what is going on around me. I don't have to read opinions or ideas that I don't already have or agree with. That would be the simpler way to live.

What Wiesel suggests is that life is not that simple. When we stop learning, refuse to expand our knowledge and experience, we miss the fullness of beauty. We lose sight of the beauty that lies in diversity and difference. Just as a flower garden is made up of a variety of sizes, colors and blossoms, so the world around us is made up of beauty.

His words ~ "divine beauty" ~ suggest that through diversity, exposing ourselves to what has come before as well as what walks beside us, we are lead to whatever we find or name as Divine or Holy.

As we look beyond ourselves, we have the choice to envision a different world and create a different mythos for the present and the future. We have the opportunity to leave things as they are, to believe we are powerless, or to broaden and share our experiences and our quests, adding them to the sum total that balances our world.

In light of recent events, what do you want to learn? How do the stories of your ancestors affect your choice? What do you want to leave for the generations that follow? How will you contribute to the sum total balancing the world?

Adjusting Perspective

Every experience, every thought, every lesson we have, shows up in our lives from one perspective: our own. No matter what we do, we cannot entirely change that.

One definition of perspective is "true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion." The word's origin comes from medieval Latin: perspect- [looked at closely], and the verb perspicere, [to look through].

Our perspective on an event or comment is always seen through our own eyes, our own experiences, our own values. We have nothing else. However, like the pigeon perched above the city, we have the opportunity to change that view. We can perch ourselves in the middle of a busy street, on a housetop, on a 10-story apartment building or on a 80-story skyscraper. We have the capacity to adjust our perspective.

My personal experience is generally starting in the middle of the street ~ surrounded by the murkiness of whatever was just slung at or buzzed by me. It's dangerous there. Sometimes I wallow in whatever is happening on the street, often unintentionally, because I'm reacting ~ and I am in the middle of it all.

At those exact moments, it's difficult to shift perspectives. It's a struggle to remember that I can fly; I don't have to muddle across the active street. Spreading my wings, getting lift, rising ~ all have their own challenges. Once I do that, though, I can adjust my perspective, the view of what's happening, and breathe differently.

What do you do when you find yourself in a metaphorical street fight? How do you feel when things get thrown your way? Do you feel the need to change perspective? If so, how do you do that? If not, how does that work for you?