As it stands I am not the most nature loving person. Sure I think it’s absolutely magnificent that we have these tall green monsters that make up an entire forest. The rushing water that refreshes the mind and soul as every wave hits another rock as it races down a creek through that forest. OK maybe I don’t get out much but I did have an interesting episode with a family of birds this summer. And by interesting I mean I traumatized them.

Isn’t that often how it goes. We find something beautiful and we destroy it. Or we modify it to appease our mood at that time. Take for instance, these birds – I wanted to know they were alive and to be entertained by them. They were just sleeping there minding their own business and not thinking twice about me. How rude. So I got up there with my big stick (big stick of pay-attention-to-me) and ever so gently poked the nest. Now my idea of gentle may be different than a bird’s – it’s about perspective after all – as a squawk loud enough to wake the worms erupted from the momma bird. Who by the way was more concerned about me then her babies and in her haste knocked two out of the nest!

See what I did there, it was the momma that did all the damage. If she had just calmly reacted to my invasion then the babies would have been fine. Rather, they hobbled around the ground before scattering into the bushes. As the summer days passed I would hear them squeak in search of home. Right, it was all the mother. Ok, I know I hear you. It was all me. But isn’t that so typical as a human to find something that in it’s relative home is just fine yet I have to get my fingers all up in it. Twiddle around for a bit and when it doesn’t go the way I had planned or ends up differently that how it was, I bring my fingers out and point them.

Looking at yourself as you are isn’t easy. Not always as a straightforward as a bird falling out of the nest. The cause and effect of our actions do not leave breadcrumbs for us to follow knowing where we’ve gone wrong. Actually, the whole bread gets baked and then a few bites in we realize it’s pretty dry and crumbly. The mess is everywhere and we just know it didn’t turn out. So we go over our ingredients – ah yes I forgot the salt.

Well between the birds and the bread this has all gone off track. Being able to see where you’ve gone wrong and admit to that is an audacious act if you’ve never done it before and a part of life if you are on the quest for self improvement. Regardless, it’s hard work like laying eggs and keeping them safe from idiots.

Our time here is good but short. We live inside our minds but we take it out there. We keep consistent in our thinking and conscious in our surroundings. Or at least we try but it comes and goes, this thing called change. Constant in itself that nothing remains as it was before. I want to grow with each change. To not be held back by its boundaries. Its limits and what-ifs. Things don’t always have a course; the path is not always clear. Sometimes it’s just uncertainty that the wheels are even turning. Stuck in the scenery we’ve seen a thousand times before wondering is this the straight narrow or another turnpike. Either way, the road we travel changes under our feet. Standing still or running free, nothing lasts forever but the view is always with me. 

Stay wild. 

Today is a nice day, already. In my world there is little to worry about right now. The sun is just peaking through some clouds, making its way into my room. There’s a chill in the air before its warmed up and a breeze that rattles the leaves of all my house plants.

In the world around me, it might be a little different. Well, a lot different. If I needed something to worry about then an easy way to do so is by turning on the news. My fancy smart phone has a quick read news filter in the search menu – I can worry before I’ve even started looking.

It doesn’t take much, you see, since so much has occurred in our world and continues to happen. It’s easy to get lost in the uncertainty  and to struggle seeing what will always remain. When you consider the past, the future may be clouded or clear. Sometimes it starts out one way and ends another. Sometimes you can’t see the sky because the sun is just so bright; other times it’s because of the clouds. Either way, you know it’s there.

All we have is today. Yesterday is over and tomorrow might not come. Rain or shine, still air or storms – we should have shades on and an umbrella in the car for whatever weather we may face. And a good pair of shoes to keep on walking this path.

Stay wild, stay positive.

Photo Credit: Linsen Schuss