Tag Archives: nature

Glimmers

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Have you heard of glimmers? 

As I consider my own gratitudes, exhaustion, and seeking ways to soften my own life, I find this concept has been a recurring theme.

The general idea is that a glimmer is something small that sparks joy in your life. We are tallkjng about the truly small things like that first sip of hot chocolate on a fall evening, catching sight of the full moon, or hearing laughter from afar. 

Glimmers usually aren’t typically planned although I suppose they could be.  They are incredibly good for our mental health because they are small reminders that life isn’t so bad and they help us build emotional resilience. 

When you see the good in the world, you assume there is more good beyond what you see. There’s something positive around the next corner. 

A glimmer is the opposite of a trigger. While triggers are the small things that irritate us and fire up lots of negativity, sadness and anger, glimmers will calm and soothe. They make us happy. They make us smile. They spark creativity and joy. 

This week has not been the best but I have been enjoying some glimmers here and there. One day this week I was waiting my turn at a busy intersection and happened to look over to see a little bird splashing in a mud puddle at the side of the road. That little guy was experiencing pure bliss, splashing, ducking under the water, and spinning around before splashing some more! 

That same day, I saw a beautiful rabbit in a neighbor’s yard. 

I was on the road for work yesterday and experienced construction and traffic delays in multiple locations. As I headed home, I impulsively drove right past my turn to come home and headed to the Dollar General down the road. Whoever owns the field next to that store has planted it with sunflowers. It’s a glorious display of sunflowers right there along a busy state route. 

My pictures are terrible because I didn’t want to trespass and had to aim my phone camera through some brush and the iPhone camera isn’t great. Still, isn’t it lovely to think that someone would plant such a beautiful display of flowers just to give me a glimmer one August day? 

Look around you, friends. There are glimmers everywhere. You just have to know how to spot them! 

Back To The Country

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I took a few days off this week and headed north for a little adventure in Cleveland. We chose this destination because a favorite author was speaking and I was dying to go hear her.

We had a nice time but I am a self proclaimed country mouse and the concrete, noise and pollution of that city are hard to tolerate. There are benefits like bookstores, restaurants, museums and other cultural features that are hard to come by where I live. I love parking the car and wandering around a city’s downtown even though I didn’t get to do that this time. 

But the sirens, construction sounds, and challenging traffic situations make it hard for me to relax. Plus, it feels like there is no good way to get anywhere and it’s all incredibly spread out so that’s an annoyance.  

Once we left Cleveland and were headed south on less populated interstate followed by state routes through the countryside, and then backroads home, I noticed I was breathing better with each passing mile.   

As dusk turned to dark, the thick forests which line our rural roads began to crowd in, as though reaching toward the car in a warm embrace. 

We rolled down the windows and breathed in the cool air. It was about 74 degrees and the humidity had broken while we were away. 

Not only did it feel soft and pleasant, it smelled clean. We realized we hadn’t breathed clean air in days. 

And our country air didn’t disappoint. 

It smelled of pine, of earth, and sometimes of campfire smoke. 

It was eerie in places where rain had preceded us and left behind a light misty fog that clung to the pine trees.. 

Two small deer grazed by the road as fireflies danced around them. We didn’t see fireflies in the city. We also didn’t hear locusts, tree frogs or bull frogs where we were. 

We did spend some time at Lakeview Cemetery and were delighted at all the life that is found among the deceased including swans, ducks, fish, turtles and all manner of birds. 

As country people we are told that our life is backward. People might call it quaint or old fashioned. They make fun of us for being so far from civilization and call us hillbillies. They think we aren’t smart enough to know better and to want more for our lives like they have. 

But you know something? A ten minute drive into my county seat gets me to work and to a grocery store, pharmacy and hardware with most of what I need. A thirty minute country drive gets me to a larger town on a road where I’m not in a wall of traffic that’s either sitting still or driving 80 mph. 

Plus, I have nature and clean air. 

I’ll take my country home, far from the noise of traffic, where I’m immersed in the goodness of what the Earth offers over the steel and concrete misery that our nation’s cities have to offer.

It’s nice to visit. The bookstores, shopping options  and museums feel like a destination and a treat that way. Meanwhile, you’ll find me tooling around in my “backward” country life. 

If only those who criticize knew they are actually the ones who have it backward! 

Go breathe some fresh air, friends. If you’re lucky enough to live with it, don’t take it for granted. If you’re not lucky like me, your lungs, mind and spirit need a break.

Resilience

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Monsoon season continues here in southern Ohio. To be fair, it doesn’t rain all the time. Sometimes it’s dry and blistering hot. Regardless, you can be sure the humidity will be over 90 percent so there’s absolutely no reason to put a lot of work into your hair.

So far this year, I’m growing a terrific crop of weeds with a few flowers in the middle and I can’t begin to keep up with the work.

Yesterday, I stood at the window watching an absolute deluge run off my already saturated yard as cars puttered by with their windshield wipers on high. The rain was hard enough to practically knock down a small child but it wasn’t enough to break the flowers outside my window.

How is it that a steady drip of water can reshape rock but a storm like that can’t damage the petals of these flowers?

I don’t know the answer to that question but it got me to thinking about resilience.

Humans experience all manner of storms in life. I couldn’t begin to list the ways that illness, money, job loss, death, depression, and the corrupt world around us can bring relentless downpours of problems into our lives.

Some people lose their footing and never find their way back while others get knocked down but manage to pop up again. A few never fall at all.

Those who nurture their minds and spirits to be resilient always find a way to not let the storm ruin them. They don’t let the deluge of troubles damage their petals.

What do these people have that makes them better able to resist the challenges life throws at them? How do they keep standing against life’s storms?

Maybe it’s stubbornness. Perhaps it’s a sheer will to keep going, to never let life steal their joy and calm. Maybe it’s an inner toughness.

Whatever that quality is, I wish for you that you find it in yourself. I suspect it’s there in all of us if we dig deep enough.

There’s no rain in the forecast today but you can be sure I’ll be ready with a cute umbrella if it does come back. You can’t stop the rain but you can be prepared.

Have a good, dry day, friends!

Look Deep

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Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

The Way

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The stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius famously said “what stands in the way becomes the way.” I was reminded of this quote while hiking Saturday.

We hit the trail at Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve where we blessedly saw almost no human beings but we did see a good bit of standing water and flood water on the lower trails.

So we started down one only to hit a small lake where Salt Creek had flooded the trail and much of its surroundings. So we headed back to the parking lot and down another trail only to find similar results. So we backtracked to higher land and still had a wonderful hike.

It was an adventure and I enjoyed every minute. That’s because we were moving, we were outside, we were surrounded by tall trees, rock formations, and by reminders that real civilization is to be found in a quiet forest. Real civilization is in the quiet. It’s in a brisk breeze through hemlock. It’s in the birds that sing. It’s even in the small snake that graciously moved off the trail after nearly giving me a heart attack when the “twig” on the path started to zig zag toward my foot.

Evidently the shriek I gave off was uncivilized enough the snake went the other way.

Anyhoo, those detours gave us an excuse to see a trail coming and going. They also reminded us of the power of water and how forces of nature can put humans in their place.

I’m sure not everyone would be so thrilled by such detours but I thought it was a good day. Plus, we went over four miles which is my current personal best since developing a leg issue a few months ago!

What stands in the way when you’re determined to have a good day? Not a darn thing!

Around Here

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Around here, there’s a lot to say and nothing to say about how my time has been occupied and where my thoughts wander. Sunsets are welcome as are good books, long weekends and days when I don’t even consider turnjng on the tv.

Around here, I’m trying hard to dial back my stress levels and all around busyness and am avoiding troubling situations when possible. I’m trying to drill to the core of some health issues and am starting to feel like that is a lost cause.

But, around here, we don’t quit and we don’t lose hope. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. That may be the case but I’m convinced it will work one of these days.

Around here, Scout is suddenly sleeping very close to me at night and I’m drinking in the warmth of his little body and the purrs and soft snores that lend such comfort.

Around here I’m still thinking about the wonderful hike I took Saturday and about how lucky I am to live in a place where nature is so accessible to the public.

Around here I’m still thinking about the art we saw, the book shopping we did, and the great pizza we had from a little place in Columbus on Sunday. These handmade prints are accompanied by an old recording of natives speaking that sent shivers down my spine.

I like art that feels meaningful, that I can find a connection to so it’s not just something on a wall but something I will remember.

What a nice day that was.

Around here, it has been windy and cooler than normal. I’m bracing for the summer that’s to come and thinking about ways I can lean into the misery and try to enjoy it. Stay tuned.

Most of all, around here, I’m thinking about the sacrifices made by the brave men and women who have served our nation over our storied history. We are a young country and one with a government prone to mistakes but I will always be grateful for those who answered the call to serve our nation and I am proud of our military.

I didn’t do anything patriotic this Memorial Day weekend other than think about this very topic, admire the flags our local volunteer firefighters put out, and watch the National Memorial Day concert on PBS.

Nonetheless, I have something to say. If you are reading this and you are a veteran or active duty military, I want you to read these words:

Thank You For My Freedom.

Around here, your sacrifices mean everything.