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on the beautiful indifference of nature

I had a thought while swimming in the ocean recently. The sun was warm. The waves were gentle. The water clear. At that moment I don't think I could have been more content, even though I was at the same time sad, feeling the loss of my failed IVF round, not knowing what the future held. In that moment I thought that.. life is just a series of moments. And no matter the circumstances of my life, whether I have a child or not, a series of moments is what I will most definitely get. It's up to me to be in the moments that happen.  Some joyful. Some content. Some painful. I just get to experience them.

These thoughts were mixed in with days spent by the ocean, watching as whales came out and splashed, and onlookers awed at the fortunate fact of being right there and looking at just the right spot on the horizon to catch that fleeting moment.  The whales of course were totally  oblivious to the the above-water inhabitants taking immense joy in their movements. In all likelihood, their little movement at the surface was something incidental without much purpose, just part of them swimming along, or perhaps like the whale scratching a little itch. Who knows? because underneath that ocean is another world we are not much privy to. These little splashes at the surface give us some glimpses of something much more complex going on. 

And I thought about me. I make decisions and have thoughts and plan actions and try to make meaning of things, the ocean of my inner life feels rather complex. I feel emotions, I have hopes, some that come true, some thwarted. I try to make a difference and do good things. Yet nature reminds me, with complete indifference, that at the end of the day all I really am is just a creature going about my business, just living my life and being one little part of the world. 


Being in nature connects me with something bigger. Its size dwarfs me and makes me feel insignificant in a way, yet at the same time, special, wonderful... like those little moments when we see the whale making its presence known at the surface of the water. 

Hello World! I am part of you!
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