Time to stop and smell the roses

 when my yard is covered in snow, "stopping to smell the roses" is more a figure of speech  

The best part of working at home is being master of my own time. I work very hard physically and mentally but when I want to sit and stare at the ocean or watch the chickens sorting out their chicken problems I can do that, and that to me is divine. I feel like the wealthiest person in the world because I am in charge of my time and time is something precious to us all. I am forced to look around, to notice the smallest change. I have the luxury of experiencing nature everyday and in so doing am able to live in the moment and refrain from distraction I used to listen to. I am spiritual in these moments without even meaning to be. I meditate without the intention of meditating, I look and experience nature in most facets of my life and through this I have developed an attitude of protection of the earth because it is so very important to my life.

When you live with animals, surrounded by nature you can't help but be connected to nature in a deep and profound way and as James William Gibson says "people estranged from nature except through brief vacations into it" only glimpse at. Further that the future of our planet depends on how humans interact and feel about nature. Not that city folk aren't connected to nature  but however you get there, it is important to experience that connection. I hope my son is learning this appreciation, certainly nature has his attention.


 Someone once said to me "aren't you lonely? I would go crazy living that far out of the city with nothing to do". Well first off, I can get to the city easy enough but more importantly, how can a person have nothing to do with this much nature in your face? With animals reminding me and keeping me connected through their need to be fed or watered or through protecting them in all of the challenges of changing weather, through finding them the best places to feed in the yard, by hunting down what plants to give them, or by simply watching the smallest beetle make a seemingly impossible journey. Uh, no, I am never bored or lonely. I am not anti-social in any way for I love people and all of their strange behavior but on a daily basis, I now have the time to stop what I am doing and hear a crow's wings beating the air as it races by, or to smell the crisp ocean air or see the foot prints in the snow and contemplate what prints belong to what animals. For these things  I am grateful.



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