I’ve been working on getting outside at least twice a day, usually in the morning before work and again in the evening when I get home. I don’t have a huge back yard and given the extreme heat lately, it’s not the most well-kept yard in the neighborhood either! After all who wants to weed or mow when it’s 102?

But what I’ve found is that just watching things happen around me makes me feel a little more connected to the natural world. When I see insects buzzing about the coneflowers and ornamental grasses in the flowerbeds, rabbits sitting as still as a stone so my dog won’t see them (she rarely does) or my favorite - hummingbirds flitting about and fighting over the sugar water in the feeders (they’re very territorial) . . . I feel like I’m a part of something bigger. That like the poem “Desiderata” I have a right to be here.

Depression encourages a morbid self-obsession, so anything we can do to break out of this unnatural way of looking in at ourselves will help us form a healthier view of who we are and what our place in the world is. It pulls us out of ourself and shows us we are a part of the grand scheme of things. We have a place here on this earth just like everything else. In our own way we’re just as important and mysterious as the sun and the moon, and just as complex and simple as the birds and the bees.

We’re here. We love and hate, eat, sleep, play and fight. We buzz around this life looking for something that will make us feel complete, satisfied, and happy but the truth is we already have it and it’s right here. Open your eyes and see!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.