Moments of Calm

How was your week?  Were you able to find moments of calm along the way?   I have been very fortunate as many of my moments of calm came from being on holiday.  I returned a day or so ago from a week in California, dividing the time between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.  There was lots to enjoy and take inspiration from but also lots of time to be still and calm.

The Snow

An obvious thing to say I know, but snow really is beautiful isn’t it.  It is also very quiet and very peaceful.  Watching snow gently fall from the sky is always a magical thing.  In Lake Tahoe we saw so much snow. More snow than I have ever seen in my life before.  We had gone for the snow, so it was rewarding to see so much.  Walking in the snow when it is deep and powdery is just lovely.  I love the way the snow brightens the light and muffles the sound.

Poetry

I am a little ashamed to say that I only really discovered the poetry of Mary Oliver since her death a few weeks ago.  Since then,  I have been dipping into her poems and enjoying them immensely.  Whilst I was away I bought a copy of her new and selected poems volume 2.  I have been enjoying it so much.  Her poems are infused with her love of nature and are both calming and uplifting to read.  Below is an extract from one of her poems, appropriately entitled First Snow

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.

It is back to work for me tomorrow so I am guessing there will be many moments when things don’t feel calm or peaceful.  However I shall continue to seek out time to just be still and breathe.  I hope you have time to do this too.

Have a lovely week xx