CELEBRATE OUR PLANET!! Words of motivation from John Muir…

You don't have to go far from home…just find something alive, and watch with LOVE! A morning hanging with my neighbors below Swell…

HAPPY EARTH DAY!! Late, but hardly forgotten…as I celebrate the Earth EVERY day! I hope you found a way to appreciate our planet yesterday, and as often as possible…Whether it’s the sea or the mountains, the desert or the prairie, a canyon or even the weeds in your backyard…the natural world has so much more to offer than monetized resources! You’d be surprised what wisdom you can discover if you take the time to notice–the resilience in a blade of grass, the persistence of a honeybee, the dedication of a spider, the patience of a wave crossing the sea, or the awesome humility of a tree…it’s all there, every lesson!! Connect with nature and never again be lonely, never again be bored!! On the contrary, you will be overwhelmed with company! And there will never be enough time to witness all the beauty and natural riches to behold upon our Earth…

I think a few words from John Muir are fitting here…as one of my true heroes, a man who spent his life marveling at Earth’s majesty. His writings were often a plea for people to go and witness nature’s Beauty, Perfection, Power, and Truth for themselves!

I love this passage, from The Mountains of California, as Muir describes wandering through a flowery meadow, doing field research on flower species:

“Sauntering in any direction, hundreds of these happy sun-plants brushed against my feet at every step, and closed over them as if I were wading through liquid gold. The air was sweet with fragrance, the larks sang their blessed songs, rising on the wing as I advanced, then sinking out of sight in the polleny sod, while myriads of wild bees stirred the lower air with their monotonous hum—monotonous yet forever fresh and sweet as everyday sunshine…The great yellow days circled by uncounted, while I drifted toward the north, observing countless forms of life thronging about me, lying down almost anywhere on the approach of night. And what glorious botanical beds I had! Oftentimes on awaking I would find several new species leaning over me and looking me full in the face, so that my studies would begin before rising.”

Muir saw divinity in nature…  “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness,” he said. And “In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal ere we are aware.”

“Climb the mountains”, he wrote, “and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into tress. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and storms their energy, while cares drop off like autumn leaves.”

You heard the man! Get out there!

…stories from my recent passage to follow shortly…