Tag Archives: nature

Be Like the Giraffe

As Oscar Wilde so humorously put it, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”

Society has this need to shape and mold us, to make us “acceptable”. Perhaps this has never been more strongly evident than it is in these times.

Becoming our most authentic selves, being fully true to ourselves, is sometimes a lifetime journey. But it does not have to be! We are not born with the masks that society encourages or demands that we wear. We learn to acquire them to get along and fit in.

This may make life feel easier in the short term, but in the long run is it really?

When you do not show who you really are to the world, there is an undercurrent of self-betrayal that you hold inside. Over a lifetime, this can become an unbearable burden.

Being true to yourself is one of the most important ways to fulfill your soul.

Look to nature as an example. There are no false face games being played there. Nature is authentic. No giraffe is wasting his life bemoaning his “too long neck”…

… or his “ugly freckles”, wishing he was a zebra with those marvelous stripes.

No, he’s just living his life, being the best giraffe he can be!

Be Like the Giraffe © Susan L Hart 2020 | Friendly comments welcome | Photo courtesy Kalz, Pexels, and kolibri5, HowardWilks, Alexas_Fotos, FuN_Lucky, Pixabay

Polishing Your Mirror

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Have you noticed the way that some experiences seem to repeat themselves in your life? You become irritated and perhaps even angry, wishing they would just “go away”. But here’s the rub…

When we resist our lessons, they simply come around again in another form. Learn it now or learn it later, it’s your choice. If you choose later, the lesson will likely be more extreme, until you just cannot ignore any more that it is something you are trying to learn.

When we become wise enough to see that life is not just “happening to us”, but that we attract the experiences and lessons we need to grow our souls, then it becomes somewhat smoother. The head bashing stops.

Observation and reflection are key to beginning to unlock and solve your life lessons.

Polishing Your Mirror © Susan L Hart 2021 | Friendly comments welcome | Photos courtesy Lisa, Pexels and Bessi, Pixabay

Sweetness of Life

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Lately have you been tasting the sweetness of life upon your tongue? Or have the events and challenges of the past year(+) left you consuming too much bitter?

Even in the “most normal” of times (what does that even mean anymore?), we all can do better at seeing, appreciating, and tasting the sweetness of life. It’s all around us, all the time. But when we become mesmerized and overwhelmed by the bitter, it can become almost impossible to taste the sweet. This requires requires intention and focus.

Today take the time to taste and savor the sweet aspects of your life. (Children are very good at this. Observe and remember.)

Even if you can only find one small thing to do so, it’s a start. Focus on it and let it expand in your heart and mind. This is one of the important tools for living life consciously and deeply.

Let yourself fall in love with life, all over again.

Inspirational Quotes:

“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” ~ John Steinbeck

“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.” ~ Shauna Niequist

“Experience life in all possible ways – good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark-light, summer-winter. Experience all the dualities. Don’t be afraid of experience, because the more experience you have, the more mature you become.” ~ Osho

Sweetness of Life © Susan L Hart 2021 | Friendly comments welcome | Photos courtesy Pitsch and bhuwanpurohit, Pixabay

Live Fully Today

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There are many lessons being learned by humanity in these uncertain times. In the long run, the biggest one might prove to be, “Live life today and every day to the fullest extent possible.”

The events of the past year and a half have brought life into pinpoint focus. We all tend to live in the past or future too much. The more we are able to live in the moment, the fuller and richer life becomes.

It is important to learn from the past, but then let it go. When we hang on to regrets related to past hurts and mistakes, we are just wasting our precious time. As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

On the other side of the coin, it is important to envision and intend to create the future you desire, but then let it go. Relax and don’t push at the universe. If your intention does not waver and your actions match it, then trust that the universe will help bring it to you.

Step back and enjoy today while you are in the process of creating your tomorrow. Life is indeed short, and every day, every step of the way on your life path is a treasure.

Inspirational Quotes:

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ~ Oscar Wilde

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

“I was smiling yesterday, I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow, simply because life is too short to cry for anything.” ~ Santosh Kalwar

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” ~ Mother Theresa

“The future depends on what you do today.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Path to Well-Being

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Daily walking (and especially in nature) is essential for my personal sense of health and well-being. I’m a big believer in the power of nature to nurture us, hence my post to perhaps motivate you to follow suit.

You may think that nature is not what “does it for you”, but have you really given it a chance? We are much too apt to sit in front of our TVs, computers, and phone devices for hours on end. These devices actually lower our vibration, and therefore our ability to stay physically well. I’m not saying to get rid of them, but it is essential to keep our exposure in balance with what is natural and wholesome.

It is a well documented fact that our connection to nature is a very important aspect of our well-being. Time and again, nature will provide us with not just physical health, but we also derive a feeling of inner peace, what is real in life, and proper perspective about what wellness really is.

I urge you to consider adding more time in nature to your health and well-being “to-do” list. As the naturalist and writer John Muir said, “In every walk with Nature, one receives more than he seeks.”

Inspiring nature/life quotes from transcendentalist writer, Henry David Thoreau:

“He who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.”
~ Henry David Thoreau, Life Without Principle

“Every blade in the field – Every leaf in the forest – lays down its life in its season as beautifully as it was taken up.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.”
~ Henry David Thoreau, Excursions, Poems and Familiar Letters V2

“We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”
~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

“Wildness is the preservation of the World.”
~ Henry David Thoreau, Walking

“Talk of mysteries! — Think of our life in nature, — daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, — rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“And after reading Thoreau I felt how much I have lost by leaving nature out of my life.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Path to Well-Being © Susan L Hart 2021 | Friendly comments welcome | Photo of the Dolomites courtesy kordi_vahle, Pixabay