Welcome! I am a contemplative thinker and photographer from Colorado. In this blog, you'll discover photographs that I've taken on my hiking and backpacking trips, mostly in the American West. I've paired these with my favorite inspirational and philosophical quotes - literary passages that emphasize the innate spirituality of the natural world. I hope you enjoy them!

If you'd like to purchase photo-quote greeting cards, please go to www.NaturePhoto-QuoteCards.com .


In the Spirit of Wildness,

Stephen Hatch
Fort Collins, Colorado

P.S. There's a label index at the bottom of the blog.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Spring always follows Winter in our inner lives as well!



If one of us were to travel around the country, giving a talk entitled "Spring Always Follows Winter," chances are that no one would show up. After all, this truth is plainly obvious to everyone. However, for some reason, when the Winter doldrums descend upon our own inner lives - bringing depression, a frozen feeling, and the sense that we are forever stuck within our current set of challenges - we find ourselves easily tempted to believe that the Springtime of the heart will never come. Why is that? Has our corporate-industrial society so detached us from the cycles of Nature that we no longer believe our inner lives follow the same seasons as the natural world? 




For myself, I find that a constant conscious association with the Great Outdoors helps me retain greater balance in my own inner life. As winter continues its steady march, may each of us take the time to read the signs occurring all around us that Spring is on its way. And may we begin to transfer this joyful realization to our own inner lives as well!




Photos: (Top) Spring Beauty flowers, Lory State Park, CO, February 11, 2015; (Middle) Willow branches turning gold in anticipation of Spring, Bellvue, CO, February 9, 2015; (Bottom) Elm flowers, Watson Lake, Bellvue, CO, February 10, 2015

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