This week the weather suddenly changed in our area, from cold and wet to warm and sunny. This morning I woke up to beautiful mottled sunbeams shining through the green leaves on the oaks and maples that surround our house.
Unlike most people I am in a position right now to take advantage of that beautiful weather, so I decided to get some exercise, get out into the air and soak up nature by cutting the grass. However, the mosquitoes had the same idea. Anyone who has lived with these tiny high pitched buzzsaws knows how annoying and painful they can be. No matter what you do to deter them (sprays, thick clothing, swatting, running screaming from the scene) nothing stops them from achieving their ultimate goal – my blood!
But you have to admit the more you look at nature the more you see each species’ determination to survive, to achieve their goal. Trees and plants keep putting out their roots and seeds no matter how bad the weather becomes, how short a growing season is, or whether disaster hits.
Our connection to the natural world is slipping from us as a species, but it’s not too late to learn skills that help us survive and prosper. For us to be happy we need to be aware of the lessons that nature is giving and implement them so that we can enrich our lives and those around us. For instance, my grandfather always told me as a child that it takes a lot to kill grass, it will keep growing, even when you think you’ve pulled out all the roots there will still be some you’ve missed and it will grow again. We’re a lot like that – no matter how we get beaten down we can find a way to come back, it may take time, patience and effort, but we can come back, whether it’s financially, emotionally or in our overall health.
Just like nature we experience changes everyday some good, some bad, some short-term, some long-term, but, as they say, “you can’t keep a good thing down”. Next time you’re in the garden or the park stop and observe nature in all its glory and think about what it’s teaching you and what you can learn.