The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live

as variously as possible, to groom one’s curiosity

like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard,

and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills every day.

Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat

and unyielding, and despite all its dimensions,

valleys, pinnacles, and detours, life will

seem to have none of its magnificent geography,

only a length. It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery,

but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.

~Diane Ackerman

whispering kind prayers to the sun and stars and sea…

inquiry for today~ how will you give thanks today?

how to hold lightly

I am trying to teach my mind
to bear the long, slow growth
of the fields, and to sing
of its passing while it waits.

The farm must be made a form,
endlessly bringing together
heaven and earth, light
and rain building back again
the shapes and actions of the ground.

~Wendell Berry