Thrive

I study geometry in spiderwebs, history in tree rings, science in a butterfly’s proboscis. There are songwriting lessons in sun-saturated meadows, and economy lessons in the bay laurel leaves that I pick from fallen branches, break in half to inhale their rich, camphoraceous medicine, then fold carefully into my wallet like a fresh, new currency. Among redwood fairy rings, serpentine roots on the forest floor, and burrows of small mammals in the hillsides, I sense the mother tongue of fairy tales and poetry. The open-air cafeteria serves dew-kissed miner’s lettuce, warm blackberries, and liquid morning light. Map reading and wayfinding are requirements. It’s all recess. It’s all a kind of theology.

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It's like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and | create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals-sounds that say listen to this, it is important. So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader's ear. Don't just write words. Write music.

As the miles of my walks accumulate, my practice of moving through the world window-shopping for beauty leads to my increasingly fine-tuned discernment of what moves me, trying to answer the question everyone asks themselves: What matters to me? I came to feel that beauty spotted me first. At some point, I begin to notice that I’m no longer scouring but simply zeroing in on the moments and details that resonate. Or maybe almost everything has turned beautiful through my new eyes so everywhere I gaze beauty is gazing back at me.