Learning Your Place

We humans often have an oversized view as to how important we are.  That's not to say that we don't have an important place in this world.  It's just that we seem to want to overstate things a bit - and we like to push ourselves into the front of the line, so to speak.

That's why taking walks near and in nature can be very important.  It reminds us of our place and the places of so many other wonderful things in this world.

These were not the largest trees on the Kuilau Ridge Trail, and yet we didn't look like much in comparisons to many of the moderate sized specimens on the edge of the trail itself.  In my mind, trees are one of the things that make nature more relatable to a larger percentage of the population of humans.  Most of us have at least encountered a tree or two in our own living environment.  Even most of our large cities have some trees - even if they struggle a bit to grow well in the little wells of dirt encircled by cement.

If we look closely, we can also seen the fine artwork presented by nature.  But, sometimes it seems as if nature recognizes that we can't quite appreciate the subtlety of its beauty - so it offers up patterns we recognize - things that don't seem quite so random to us.

It's almost as if nature is trying to provide us with a "welcome message" in hopes that we can learn to appreciate the world around us without trying to conquer and destroy, as is often the way of the human race.

Nature can take a little bit of practice - like nearly everything else - if you really want to appreciate what it has to offer.  And the good news is that practice opens you up to more and more ways to see the world and its beauty.  Sometimes you have to look up from the pond and its rippling water to see the reflection of those ripples on the rocks above.  Suddenly the immobile appears to move, and sunlight is given a chance to dance for you.

Our place is to observe and to give the natural world space to be what it is - something amazing.  In turn, we may find that we also do better because we are not always facing inward - mesmerized by our own need to be supremely important and ultimately catered to by all else that exists.