Nature

"Elegance is to get ride of all the superfluous things and focus in on the most beautiful one."

Paulo Coelho

I went to listen to Krita Tippet's On Being today because I needed that kind of energy. There were a few recent episodes I was excited to listen to - Joanna Macy, Elizabeth Gilbert and Paolo Coelho.

Paolo Coelho - an all time favorite author of mine.

People are attracted to camping and vacations in general because it often allows one to focus on beauty. But more interesting to me is how do we get rid of the superfluous things (physical, mental and activity wise) in our everyday life, so that we can better see the beauty there?

The first and last photo from our campsite in the BWCA brought me peace when I looked at them yesterday, and anxiety when I looked at them today. I experienced both there.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote was true more than ever for me. I had to search to find the author and am happy to say it is Emerson because this reminds me that my second favorite play of all time is coming back to town soon, about the friendship between Thoreau and Emerson.

http://www.tigerlion.org/nature/

Two small things that are big appreciations for me today are:

A. The kind/understanding woman on the phone whom I called about having some tests done next week.
B. My friend being available for me to come over and talk to her tonight.

"Elegance is to go to the core of beauty, and the core of beauty is simplicity." Paulo Coelho