Gratitude: Finding Peace and Balance in the Beauty of Nature!

If you have visited my blog a few times, you've probably noticed that I almost always illustrate my posts with nature photographs... and all these photographs are my own, drawn from my immediate surroundings, and from occasional daytrips in the area.

The amazing water of Crescent Lake, Washington

I realize it is more "appropriate" to illustrate articles with imagery that's directly related to the text... but, in a sense, these images are related because they speak to my state of mind as I am writing and coming up with the idea that form the core of this posts.

I don't exactly remember the first time it came up, but during some discussion about religion — many many years ago — I answered the question "what do you believe in" slightly evasively by saying "Nature is my Church!"

Upon reflection, there's actually a lot more truth to that slightly off-the-cuff answer than I originally thought!

Nature is where I go when I need to find inner peace and quiet; when I need to refresh my mind and soul; when I need to think; when I need to problem solve in my head.

So nature is my sanctuary in many ways... just like sanctuaries might be found in chapels or meditation rooms for other people.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my late father who was originally the person who taught me to really LOOK at what was in my surroundings; what was right in front of me.

As the years have passed (my dad died when I was 18) I often hear his voice inside my head, encouraging me to really look at what I am looking at.

We miss so much in our daily lives because we get trapped in the busy-ness of our endless to-do lists, and we barely come up for air for long enough to make sure we don't get run over by traffic when we are crossing the street.

Do you know what you're looking at? Close-up of the cap of a Fly Agaric Mushroom (Amanita muscaria)

I chuckle to myself as I write these words... because I was thinking about our modern world and how people end up with FOMO ("fear of missing out") and I realized that perhaps my greatest case of "FOMO" is that I miss something amazing in my surroundings!

It sometimes often frustrated my parents that I would "dawdle" over something in a bush, on a flower, on the beach, in the water, in the cloud patterns.

All these years later, I still dawdle...

It makes me feel peaceful and happy to just sit by the, or a lake, or a bench in a clearing in the woods and just watch what's in front of me. Of course, it also makes me happy to watch people in my environment... but human nature is a completely different kind of nature!

Black raspberries in the sun...

Of course, what we "like" as human beings varies a lot from person to person. That is, what we value and seek is often all over the map.

My choices typically reflect an innate desire to have a peaceful inner life. I don't like turmoil and upheaval — even though I am quite adept at dealing with it — and so I tend to seek our places and situations that are... peaceful; serene.

Some people authentically like constant chaos and excitement and that it totally fine... for them. I'd rather pass on that particular lifestyle!

When I just can't escape to nature — even if it's just to the back yard — I find refuge inside music... which is hard to explain... but it works.

Anyway, I pause every days for moments of gratitude for the healing and peace I find in nature, and in gratitude to those who have taught me to stop and truly appreciate the beauty all around us... even in the simplest and most mundane!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

How about you? How do you find your inner peace? Or is inner peace not the mindstate you seek? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.04.06 00:43 PDT
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