Gratitude is the sign of noble souls ~ Aesop


Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving ~ Kahlil Gabran


Joy delights in joy ~ William Shakespeare


Monday, February 22, 2010

Conservancy of the Soul

For a Kentucky girl in Los Angeles, the city can be a pretty suffocating place. And not just because of the air quality in the valley, but because of all the NOISE. There's leaf blowers and mowers and construction all around and a highway not far from my condo and a delightful flight pattern from a nearby airport directly over my roof. And sometimes when I wave at the planes that jet overhead, taking people away from here, I wish I could get away with them. So I am grateful for the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy...for the person who had the foresight to know that people can't live on concrete alone. So they set aside a place close to my house called Fryman Canyon, a mountain in the middle of the city, where no one could build on or drive on or incessantly use their leaf blowers on. It's the place where I can go to breath air that's a little cleaner and reacquaint myself with old friends like trees and rocks and deer. But the best part about it is that somehow (save the few poor souls who bring their bluetooths along for the hike) it is miraculously quiet. Instead of the flight path of Southwest, I can hear the flight path of hummingbirds as they dart from flower to flower and make recognisance missions to discover if I am friend or foe. I smile and they seem to know.
And being up there got me thinking that in many ways, I am like an overcrowded city myself. Cluttered with so much noise from the population of worry and anxiety that live within. And I need to have the foresight that the builders of this city had, to set aside a place within myself that is away from the noise and concrete...a place within that is silent and still, where I can notice the smallest breeze, the quietest thoughts. A conservancy of the soul, if you will. Someplace protected from the noise and pollution of the world, a place where I let myself truly be vulnerable and unafraid. No clutter, no six story condo buildings or overcrowded coffee shops, no cars or trucks or planes -- just a small circle of self that is nature at it's best, me at my best. The mountain is there...I just need to visit it more often:)

3 comments:

  1. Or you could just visit me! Last night we heard a police siren and were shocked - I can't remember the last time I heard one!
    But I am very glad that you have such a great place to visit when 3,000 miles is too far to travel :)

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  2. Griffith J Griffith set aside a nice plot of land as well. Great place for solitude or marriage proposals :)

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  3. So true, so true. And such a beautiful image: a conservancy of the soul. I may steal it!

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