We can use the memory of beautiful landscapes to make our ordinary lives more meaningful.

In many spiritual traditions, when people want to bring meaning to the rather mundane events of daily life, they call to mind passages from their sacred scriptures. They then make a practice of superimposing the joy and peace of those passages onto their daily lives, thus imbuing their surroundings with radiant vitality.

For me, it is similar with the "scriptures of Nature" I experience while out hiking and meditating in the wilderness. When I return home, I practice bringing up a mental image of the beautiful landscape, feeling the leap of joy it brings in my heart, and then perceiving the ordinary events of my life from that place of love and exuberance. In other words, I use the memory to open up the heart energy center of my being, and then begin perceive all of life from that place of love and joy.

I also practice imagining that I AM that landscape, and seek to embody its dignity and grandeur in my daily life by standing up taller, walking with purpose, and leaving brief silences in between my words. As John Muir says, sacred memories are living presences - "holy spirits," he calls them - and they seek to be embodied in our daily lives. When we practice in this way, we help bring the landscapes we love to life in a new way, enabling them to appreciate their own beauty and goodness through the vehicle of human consciousness. What a wonderful calling we have!

Photo: Desert Paintbrush and Double Arch; Arches National Park, UT; April 20, 2013