KNOW THE EARTH AS POETRY

Reflections, Bok Tower, Florida

The other day my granddaughter said, "I think being a follower is underrated."  "So is being an introvert," I replied.  So, two generations apart, something we could agree on.  Although we agree on many things, actually.  If you have a granddaughter you know, treasures beyond compare.  

Some of us don't want to be tough alpha leaders.  I read this somewhere:  "Some of us just want to write and wander the garden and breathe in the sky and nourish and nurture and quietly create new pathways and live our lives as our art.  To know the earth as poetry."  I know women like this, a few; well, more women than men.  

This would have been a pipedream for me when I was practicing law.  You don't win a case for someone wandering the garden.  (Although quietly creating new pathways is a fearsome legal strategy.)  But now, now it suits me.  Maybe you too.  Maybe on your free days you write or wander your garden and live a creative life.  Maybe you even make a living that way. 

Paulo Coehlo (b. 1947, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), author of The Alchemist, wrote, "Don't allow your mind to tell your heart what to do."  I would add as well, listen to your body over your mind.  So many times, our bodies know what is best.  When to forgive, when to move on, when to accept, how to love. . . these are all body-driven, aren't they?   

"So, what if, instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding additional good things.  One at a time.  Just let your pile of good things grow."  Again, I don't know who said this.  But we were traveling recently, and I felt like my pile of good things was growing.  We were in Florida.  One day we saw a lighthouse.  

Fernandina Beach, Florida

Do you also feel like a lighthouse is something special?  There are so few remaining.  The job of a lighthouse was to warn and protect.  They were sentinels.  Doers of good.  Seafarers trusted them.  Now they are symbols. 

Another day, breathing in the sky, we saw hundreds of manatees sheltering in the 72° central Florida springs from the colder Gulf and ocean waters.   

Blue Spring State Park, Florida

Yet another day, we saw the sun set over the lake at Mount Dora.  A quotation from Paulo Coehlo came to me again:  "the secret to immortality is this:  let yourself be reborn every day, every moment, even." 

Sunset at Mt. Dora, Florida

So, yes, let's "wander the garden and breathe in the sky and nourish and nurture and quietly create new pathways and live our lives as our art."  Let's "know the earth as poetry."  Let's be introverts if we want, or followers and creators, travelers and seekers, reborning each day to each day's beauty.  Alive to sunsets and sunrises, manatees and moons, stars and snowflakes . . . .

Adding additional good things one at a time.