Water from a Well
Life, as we all know, can present us with moments of great beauty, astonishing peace, or simple contentment.
Of course, we also must endure unforeseen obstacles and other unpleasant moments.
I don’t know what the ratio is, but it seems to me that the obstacles and such that we endure seem to take a greater toll on us - certainly on me - than the wonderful moments. I seem to need many, many moments of beauty, peace, and/or contentment to counteract those moments of lesser worth. Even worse, I find that as I try to recover from unpleasant events, they seem to hang around and replay over and over - even in the middle of something wonderful.
This reminds me of the classic zen tale, in which the basic lesson is for us to put down or put aside those unpleasant moments after they pass, since we can no longer affect them in any way. This is, of course, sound advice and quite logical. In practice, however, I find that I’m missing some type of coping mechanism to help me put aside those moments, which are already gone, and which I would just as soon have behind me.
This morning, I remembered that, while I may not be able to put aside the unpleasant events as easily as I would like, I do have a refreshing well of moments on which I can draw for reflection.
Here then is a bit of water from that well: A January afternoon in the Cairngorm mountains (and, as I write this post, I’m listening to new music from the Scottish tradition, courtesy of BBC Radio Scotland).
Notice, in the foreground, how quickly night is descending, even though the photo was taken in midafternoon. In the background, the sun is retreating over the sparse forest, heading toward the top of the bare, snow-covered peaks. Even in this photograph, I can almost see the light moving away. The snow is freshly fallen, but the storm has passed. The sky is clear and fresh, and the air, while freezing cold - about zero fahrenheit - is clean and refreshing. I paused toward the end of a three-hour walk to take this picture. I hadn’t seen anyone for the entire time. On this solo journey, I’d walked completely around two small lakes, and I’d seen one astonishing vista after another.
Take a deep breath, and walk on.
This photo is from the Pairc Naiseanta a Mhonaidh Ruaidh, or “the Red Hills National Park,” better known as “the Cairngorms,” located in the eastern Highlands, Scotland.
