Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.

– David Hume

I often struggle with feelings of inadequacies, guess they call it low self esteem these days. I know intellectually that I should feel good about myself, but I often don’t. I do know I have been gifted with sight to see the beauty in nature around me and so I go there when I find myself “in times of trouble”. I often like to take you with me. This was a lovely blossom I chanced upon in New Orleans last month. Hmmm… maybe I didn’t “chance” upon it at all. 💜💜

I took a walk in the woods on a snowy morning and found an old building with a small pane of glass still intact. I was mesmerized by the reflection of the sky and trees in the glass.

January 10, 2014

Many years ago my aunt wrote a poem about the loneliness we often feel and the darkness that sometimes surrounds us. She suggested that we may be selfish in thinking only of our own loneliness. I have thought about that poem countless times in my life.

A good friend recently told me to continue to be a Queen of Hope and to keep the Faith. That is really the key isn’t it, the greatest gift of all. Hope is really everything.

As I wander this old world and wonder at the marvelous moments that unfold I cannot say that I have had epiphanies, but I have had thoughts. In fact I am full of thoughts every day and sometimes this thoughtfulness brings me peace and comfort, if not understanding. It is as if I find myself contented with just a glimmer of purpose, enough to restore my faith, enough to allow a slow inhaling and this deep breathing is joyful.

So I have no real answers for those who too often find themselves walking down long dark roads alone. What I do have is Love and Hope, and a belief in the Connectiveness of us all.

I used to think there would be one moment of acute awareness, you know the “ta da” moment when Enlightenment would wash over my soul and the Cosmos would share all her secrets with me. But that would be the end of the Journey and I do not believe that the Journey ends.

That just isn’t what I have found. I have discovered that the Path is not a straight line and that there are all sorts of dance steps and sometimes I can fly and sometimes the music is all in color and sometimes the fog weighs my body down and it is all I can do to see my hand in front of my face. Within all these moments there is possibility, and the horizon goes on forever, and that just past the limits of our vision is Magic.

So if you feel alone and forlorn just reach out to someone else whose heart is bending low and walk a while with them.

Remember to keep putting one foot in front of the other with occasional side steps and backward dips and leaps and twirls. Keep dancing cause “the beat goes on”.

January 1

I acknowledge that calendars are of man’s making and his need to keep track of time, but I also acknowledge that I like the idea of New Beginnings. As an aging hippy chick I have always loved the phrase “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”. I know it would be easy to dismiss it as a cliché or heaven forbid a “duh” moment, but I’d rather not. I also have decided that I would rather not think of it as inverting an hour glass of sand, for eventually the sand will run out. No, I like the river analogy much better. I always liked the water cycle when I taught science. There is no beginning or end, just constant change, change in speed from a lazy bayou to dangerous rapids and roaring falls, change in state from solid sleet, ice or snow, to liquid that cannot hold its own shape, to fog hanging low over the valley. My favorite teaching moments were always about water, taking a cold can of soda from the icebox and watching the water condense out of thin air, or covering a plant in clear plastic to prove transpiration.

So friends, I will try to “go with the flow” but I know there will be times when I may need a set of oars, or an extra set of hands to help me, or maybe even a raincoat. I know there will be times when I float on a warm ocean current and watch the water laden clouds float above me, and I know there will be storms aplenty. Such is the nature of Life. It will not always be smooth sailing but it will always be a kick, so BRING IT On!!!