How nature keeps me grounded …

"... I already know 
not all days 
feel like today
but all days are gifts 
the triumphs, the failures
and everything between ..."

I don’t know about anyone else, but I often feel like I live one of two lives, but rarely at the same time.  In one of my lives, I am reasonably aware of what’s going on in the world.  I will listen with interest to the news, and engage in discussions about national and international affairs.  I’ll care about all of it.  But after a while, I’ll feel completely drained and need a detox.  

In my other life, when I’m not engaged in following the news, I’ll feel calm and contented.  I’ll make more time to be creative, as well as do all the normal daily stuff, such as housework.  I will certainly feel more productive and purposeful.  This is the life I truly love and yet I know that I need to find a way to balance the two.  It’s hard though, isn’t it? 

I’ve been so busy recently that I haven’t had much of a chance to focus on what’s going on around the world.  I know that, whilst I’ve been doing my own thing, world affairs continue unabated.  I feel like I should make an effort to stay abreast, even though it will all carry on regardless of whether or not I’m paying attention. 

Whatever side of the political fence you’re on, I think most would agree that change is afoot in the UK.  How it will work out, who knows, but it will be different.  Or maybe not.  Despite all the talk, perhaps it will feel all too familiar. Whatever happens, it’s certainly true that for every political decision made, there will be some heralding it and others condemning it.  Isn’t that always the case?  

Who would be a politician?  Certainly not me. I feel sure that most individuals who enter politics do so with good intention.  They want to make a difference and yet, no one can please all of the people all of the time.  Sadly, power has a tendency to corrupt and many a politician has fallen foul of that (and they aren’t the only ones!). 

It all feels rather bleak doesn’t it?  But take heart, we are not as much in control as we think.  Just as it’s important for us as individuals to detox occasionally, perhaps we should do so collectively.  It would do us good to adopt a different outlook occasionally.  The planet has been shouting at us for years to wake up to climate change, an issue that far surpasses our petty local politics.  Nature also knows how to whisper sweetly, reminding us with a stunning sunrise, just how wonderful life can be.  Whilst we argue on the world stage about how to resolve conflicts, nature carries on doing its thing.  That gives me hope.  It’s heartening to learn, for example, that some birds instinctively return to nesting sites, year on year.  It’s reassuring to see the sun rise and fall each day, despite everything.  I even welcome the weeds reappearing with alarming regularity in my garden.  Something here is thriving even when I don’t feel I am.

It’s good to sit in nature and let the beauty seep in.  It brings fresh perspective.  I wrote this week’s poem by an unassuming loch side where, in 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie arrived by small boat.  Here, he set foot in mainland Scotland, a land he’d never known.  His aim, to claim the crown, not for himself, but for his father.  I imagined the hopes of all those who supported his campaign, many of whom lost their lives.  

We all have dreams, of one kind or another, some personal and some public.  We won’t always agree but we can still treat each other with respect.  We may sit on different sides of a political fence, but we all have to live in the same world at the end of the day.  We all wake up to the same sun and sleep under the same sky.  So do all other living things.  My hope for you today is that you feel at one with the world of which you are a part. It’s a privilege we should never take for granted.