DISCOVERY

 

Discover: dictionary definition: “to obtain sight or knowledge of for the first time”.

 Discovering new things on your journey through life can be exciting, scary, wonderful, awesome and more, eliciting any number of emotions.  Be it good or bad, it is still discovery – something new to invade one’s brain.  Once there, it is there forever, even though it may be forgotten for various periods of time.  A scene, a scent, a tune will bring it back. The remembrance may be for a long, fond look or it may quickly be sent to a back burner of your mind because it isn’t something on which you wish to dwell right now.  Perhaps later.It is exciting to discover the wonder on a child’s face when he sees a puppy for the first time.  His eyes grow big, he laughs in delight and his instinct is to reach out and touch, to catch perhaps the wiggly ball of fur.One day, you experience the scary discovery, suddenly, that you are afraid of heights! Where did that come from? When you were young, there was no such thing as fear, the higher the tree to climb, the better. Then, one ordinary day, you are on the 35^th  floor of an office building, lots of windows all around.  You stroll over to look out at the view and see a high-steel worker doing his job on the construction site next door. You look down and for an instant you are that worker on the narrow beam and terror tightens around your heart while you quickly turn away. “Oh no, I’m afraid of heights – when did this happen?”The discovery of live theatre for the very first time is a delight.  A musical perhaps, full of laughter and joy can makes your heart sing. You know that however many shows you will see in the future, none will match the thrill of your first experience with this one.Perhaps the most exciting discovery of all is when you know, with absolute certainty that the person you are with will be your soul mate and the feeling you have is being returned.  Awesome isn’t a big enough word to describe the mutual knowledge of this newfound love you share.Your discoveries are your own, unique to you. There will be many through your journey; what you choose to do with them is also unique to you. As long as you are discovering new things, life is good.

 

March, 2008

 

Imagination

My imagination is my friend. She often visits to take me on a delightful surprising journey, arriving suddenly, as she always does, to stand patiently beside me until I notice her smiling face.  

She whispers in her usual quiet voice that only I can hear “Take my hand and come with me through this gate, for I have something wondrous to show you”. Off we go and as we open the gate, there before us stands the largest, most beautiful ferris-wheel I have ever seen.  The spokes, the seats, the intricate workings are of every hue imaginable.  There are people boarding, people standing in line and some already settled in the colourful seats.  The big wheel starts to move, rising into the sky, making a couple of turns before slowing at the top allowing people to disembark and step onto a waiting soft and snowy cloud.  They are happy, smiling, chatting with each other for they know they have arrived. They have left their earthly bonds behind and are free.  Free to explore the universe. Perhaps some will choose to go back in history, to find a place they lived before. Some will opt to find their God, for they are ready, while others may want to take a peek into the future and get a glimpse of where they will be born anew.  All are anticipating with excitement what lies ahead. 

We watch for a while, my friend and I, before walking back through the gate but I turn for one last look at the spectacle we have witnessed.  Too late, the gate is fading, disappearing into a wispy mist. 

 My imagination too is disappearing but I smile, thinking of this journey that will often return to my memory and bring me joy. 

I know too that she will return one day, to take me off again, another adventure toexperience, another wonder to behold.

I AM THE WIND

 My movement is slight, a mere whisper between the leaves. I stir in fits and starts, gentle, tiny leaps, a cavorting playful entity without threat.  I am wind – the beginning – called many names at this point, breeze, rustle, a waft or breath or puff of air, sound without menace, lending alarm to no one, certainly not the creatures of the forest – not yet. Gradually, awareness takes place in those who have seen me grow before, a niggling fear of what is to come.  Along with the fear is excitement, anticipation and dread so that a whole jumble of emotions mix together and roil around, as capricious as I, the wind. As I gain momentum, wild creatures, wise in my ways, take cover, hunkering in sheltered spaces, feeling the electricity, sensing the smell of the tumult. The wisdom of experience makes them content to wait patiently for this to pass and peace to return. My power heightens as I grow and grow, becoming great as I reach my zenith and become a full blown storm, screaming through mountains, tearing at the earth, moving onto the oceans and lakes with wild abandon to churn and churl and toss carelessly aside such man-made toys as ships, and boats and surf boards and people too. As do all things in nature, I have a certain beauty, an ethereal quality that makes my howl a ghost-like keening that is a symphony of sound unique to me. For as long as our earth has lived, I have been one of its elements, unique in my contribution to the shaping of this sphere using the tumult of rain, the sculpture of erosion, the recreation of the landscape. I Am The Wind.