Sometimes, when I'm really stressed or tired or feeling overwhelmed, I like to watch ants scurry along invisible paths on the pavement, or bees in their incessant search for nectar, or kestrels hover, poised, in the sky above me as I drive to work. It reminds me that around me, all the time and everywhere, there are millions of non-human dramas unfolding. These dramas may seem insignificant to us, but to the ant, the bee and the kestrel they are a matter of life and death. Their life stories are as vital and as important and all-encompassing as ours are, depending on whose perspective you take.
When we're losing perspective in the midst of the pressure of impossible demands at work or home, when life just seems too much to cope with - that can be a helpful time to pause and observe the non-human dramas carrying on around us; to view the earth from the moon. We are reminded that our own, narrow, limited perspective is just one point of view. It is not the same as 'fact'. Inevitably, it will change, again and again; it is not set in stone.
This can create just enough distance between us and whatever is happening to give us breathing space, to wide our vision a little. And that can be enough to get us through.
It's also a reason why I like writing stories from different, non-human perspectives, like the lonely garden narrating The Forgotten Garden, and the voice of the ancient tree in The Wishing Tree.
It's also a reason why I like writing stories from different, non-human perspectives, like the lonely garden narrating The Forgotten Garden, and the voice of the ancient tree in The Wishing Tree.
2 comments :
I totally agree. Isn't nature restful to watch (for us anyway!). Amazing that animals just know what to do and don't have to debate it or consider or have any of those 'what ifs' going through their head.
Good point. None of that internal 'chatter' going on. They simply are what they are.
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