At coffee yesterday, Holly - my youngest daughter - brought up the topic of emotional drama, and the fact that so many people seem to thrive on it. It is easy for any of us to get all worked up about the wrongs we believe we've endured, our own mistakes and flaws, media-driven conspiracy theories, or political drama - both liberal and conservative. We discussed the fact that such drama makes people feel energized, especially when their lives seem humdrum and mundane. Isn't it interesting how we use something or someone to be AGAINST (including even ourselves!) to distract us from more cosmic questions - like the meaning of life, the fact that our time here on Earth is short, and that we are all going to end up dissolving back into the Source?

She mentioned how freeing it was when she and her wife - Jody - took a retreat up in the mountains last week - in a location without internet or cell phone service, where moonlight and grazing horses and snowy peaks made all of the drama associated with city life seem like a mere dream. My personality type is very similar to Holly's (we are both Type FOUR - "The Romantic," the most emotional type on the Enneagram), and I too find that my time in Nature helps me see through all of life's drama to the vaster spaciousness of our common Source. For example, several days ago at nearby Watson Lake, I was able to lose myself in the spaciousness of the pristine, snow-covered expanse of ice, and in the honking of thousands of Canada geese. What liberation!

Photos: A Cottonwood leaf and Canada Geese on Watson Lake (and on the Poudre River), Bellvue, CO, January 14, 2015 #StephenHatch, #NaturePhotoQuotes, #CanadaGeese