See the World Around You

"Society seems noxious. I believe that against these baleful influences Nature is the antidote. The man comes out of the wrangle of shop and office, and sees the sky and the woods and is a man again. He not only quits the cabal, but he finds himself. But how few men see the sky and the woods!"

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals 1820-1836

When I take a second to look beyond the street signs, I see the sky, the clouds, and the mountains. It occurs to me that there is so much beauty and that it is sad how often I exist within it, yet don't see it. "See the world around you" has become a conscious mantra of mine and the more I try to be aware of it, the more connected I feel. Yesterday, as I was leaving the cabal and office, my mantra came to mind. With one foot already in the car, anxious to make my drive home, I stopped, stepped back out, and looked at the world around me.