Tag: nature

Categories
motivation

A Time to be Still and a Time to Take Action

Cartoon of two children running. Someone is throwing acorns at them. One says, "You shouldn't insult squirrels when they're in trees and have ammo."

One warm autumn day, I was enjoying my lunch on a park bench when I noticed projectiles dropping around me. I looked up to see a squirrel gnawing on a nut. He wasn’t the least bit happy I was under his tree. Didn’t I know he had to prepare for winter?

It wasn’t long before I realized I better move and find another place. I could have been stubborn and kept eating there. But I wasn’t enjoying the bits of acorns that were pelting my head.

Cartoon of two children running. Someone is throwing acorns at them. One says, "You shouldn't insult squirrels when they're in trees and have ammo."

I’ve seen some people who haven’t enjoyed their situation. They may not be satisfied with their job or a relationship. They just may be frustrated that things haven’t changed much in years. But instead of taking action, they like to complain about it and just stay there. If you’re tired of the situation you are in, there are actions you can take today to get moving.

  • Learn a new skill
  • Seek with anticipation for new opportunities
  • Change your routine
  • Ask yourself, “What would it take to improve this situation?”
  • Journal about your observations

There is a time to be still and a time to take action. Don’t let that annoying squirrel keep pelting you with acorns!

Categories
Attitude

Is the world really as scary as it seems?

If you listen to the news media for very long, you get the feeling everything is falling apart and everyone is ready to strangle each other. It can leave you with a feeling of fear and despair. You get the impression apocalypse has already come and the only thing left to do is write off the world and call it a day.

But if you unplug, take a drive across the country, and get out into nature, you get an entirely different feeling. The forests are unaffected by news hype. Mountains and valleys care little about the elections and the latest violence to hit the streets. True, what mankind does to nature affects it. But the story mankind tells itself is much scarier than the reality of a quiet trail, or a babbling brook. Just don’t take in some media before you leave. You’ll probably see a story about a man-eating cougar, a rabid bear or a bigfoot sighting.

The news media itself is suffering from downsizing and cutthroat competition. Perhaps the media loves to scare us because the typical news reporter is scared he or she will lose their job next week. Perhaps when you focus on the worse of humanity, you begin to believe your own hype. 

It is so much easier to focus on the worst of humanity. It is so much more difficult, but rewarding to balance it with the good of nature as well as the best of humanity. It is out there. You just have to be intentional and escape the 24 hour news cycle once in a while.