So hearing has been covered, as as smell, but what about sight?
Should I write about watching waves crash onto the shore, or a walk under emerald green leaves in May. Observing my sons asleep, even now at their wise and venerable ages. A vase of garden picked flowers on the kitchen counter. A wall of sweet peas bobbing their heads in an afternoon breeze. Sights that fill me with joy, there are so many that make me glad to be alive.
Or should I talk about words that have impacted on my life like the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken. Or the words that although not written by Nelson Mandela were used in his inaugural speech. Famous words that end.... "As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.". Both lots of words that mean so much to me, and get used all the time in my work as a therapist.
What about the books that have stirred my soul, from wonderful childhood memories of reading Wind in the Willows and Black Beauty, through those formative years of D.H. Lawrence and Somerset Maughan. To the books that I use when life is tough to bring me back to a state of grace,those books are by a woman called Elizabeth Goudge and they are simple stories of family and love.
There are movies that make me weep, It's a Wonderful Life being my favourite, Schindlers List, Hotel Rwanda, films that have a message ultimately of hope through adversity. These are the films that touch me over and over again. Men's inhumanity to man and someone standing up and saying enough and having the courage to see it through.
Reading here the stories of courage and love that go on daily.
There are a myriad of places where I see things that touch my soul and I do not propose to single one area out as the best above the others. I am just grateful that I can see and read (even if I do have to wear specs now!) and take part in the wonders of the world. The simple pleasures of life, where would we be without them.
To finish though today I'd like to write down some spectacular words that were sent to me by a wonderfully dear friend that touched me when she sent them and still send shivers down my spine when I read them now. And although they were written for me, I think they can be shared with all, as we are all on a journey.
She went on a journey
Seeking herself.
She danced with poets and painters...
She sang with dreamers and believers..
She met fools and prophets,
kings and demons.
All the while she searched.
She looked from the top of mountains
She gazed deep into the river..
Searched the flames of wisdom,
and the whispers of understanding on the wind.
What she found was the lesson...
unfolding
in living...
She revealed herself
in the search.
You are where you find yourself
You go where you lead.
by
S. Grey
