Winter tranquility...

There is a profound tranquility here at my family home as winter has settled in. There is plenty of fresh snow that softens the sounds of the world that lays just outside the yard. Traffic passing by has a muted resonance and even the belling of the occasional raven seems diminshed by the weight of snow that burdens the trees surrounding the house.

I have to walk through the property as soon as the weather clears a bit. Someone has been cutting trees and leaving a terrible mess in the woodlot that extends eastward towards the mountains. But for now I am enjoying the warmth of a fire burning in the stove and the smell of fresh bread baking in the kitchen.

I have work to do but now my pace has slowed as I adapt to the old rhythms.

Stopping to reflect

I was just reflecting on my Tao reading for today. It speaks of the ephemeral nature of everything that humans create. The point it was trying to make was not one of despair but to warn us against clinging too tightly to something that will not last. For me this points to material possessions and an excessive focus on careerism. When I look back what will matter the most to me is that I may have affected some peoples lives for the good not that I spent my life trying to gather as much "stuff" as I could.

I suppose I have come to a place in my life's journey when I find that I am simply no longer capable of pursuing wealth or fame or anything that exceeds my simple basic needs in life. The futility of spending my life accumulating such things in the face of their ephemeral nature overwhelms any craven desire for them. I can get as much pleasure and joy from a golden sunset or the sound of a bird's song on an early summer morning as I could ever experience from an expensive possession that I have to toil to earn and fear to lose. And this is possible through the mere fact of being present within my own life.