A Wise Course

Why is life as an adult sometimes so muddled? How do we get so off course innately knowing what we need?  As a child, I spent little time indoors.  I picked tiny sweet wild strawberries, built forts among the over-run of bamboo in the nearby empty lot, climbed trees in the back yard, played a friendly neighborhood game of wiffle ball or I rode my bike around the block with old playing cards clothes pinned to my spokes creating a puttering sound.  There was never boredom.  Always something to do and it was quite spontaneous. 

With the complications of adulthood and the need to manage time to get it all in, it has taken some effort over the years to permit myself to indulge in activities that are thought by some to be self-serving.  There are a handful of paths nearby that each have their own characteristics- some provide a view, others take me along the Atlantic, while others afford seclusion in the thick of evergreens or a birch grove.  I indulge in the quiet, communing with nature. 

In addition, I have acknowledged my need to be creative through word, photographic images, drawing or painting.  It is these moments and hours spent in quiet reflection that feed my soul. 

I have become wiser.  It is not self-indulgence, but necessary.  Time well spent to re-charge and ground me so I may ultimately better serve my family and the children I teach.  My life is demanding.  Through these activities including prayer and meditation, I feel balanced and whole.  Perhaps, I am more in-tune with what I need-just like when I was a child.