Go With the Flow

"Change is constant...Here today, gone tomorrow...

The devil you know is better than the devil you don't."

The human ability to resist change is really quite amazing.  We fight like hell not to change the way we do things or see things or think about things.  "It has always been done that way," is often the first excuse that comes to mind. We want everything to stay status quo even if it isn't good for us.

Yet, if something devastating happens in our life, we humans also have an amazing ability to adapt to change.  You see Olympic athletes without limbs, people who have lost loved ones starting life anew, and those who have lost jobs in a bad economy have made career shifts which have made their lives even  better.

Walking down the beach, I was pondering the changes in my life the past few years.  Inwardly, I was alternately whining and patting myself on the back about my responses when I come upon a rock.  At low tide, it is out of the surf by twenty yards and at high tide, it is underwater by six feet.  

Attached to it's face are colonies of barnacles and mussels living harmoniously.  Their entire world changing drastically from being underwater breathing and feeding to being out in the sunny, open air prey to seabirds and tourists, all at the whim of the tides. Talk about change! Imagine a life where every few hours you go from feeder to food and then right back again as soon as you have adjusted.   

Believing I am at least as evolved as a barnacle, I've come to understand change is neither good or evil, it is just a fact of life. How willing am I to accept (even embrace) it and thrive under the new possibilities?  Thanks to this tiny sea life's lesson, it's time to go with the flow, literally.

Poetry Friday

There once was a girl named Nancy

Who was known as a child for her buoyancy

Yes, she loved the water

She swam like an otter

And her sparkly bathing cap was quite fancy!

Note: Bathing cap not pictured.

Mother Nature Gets the Last Laugh

The trees along the Oregon Coast are shaped by the wind and salt air.  Any esteemed landscaper would be proud to take credit for their magnificence, but it is Mother Nature's work. 

Then there are the poor arborvitae who must stand guard at fences around the world to adorn property lines.  Alas, they don't enjoy salt air and wind.  On the Oregon Coast, they end up looking more like sad poodles.

Now I Remember

Sometimes I lose my way and wander off down the path marked, "Not Important At All, Follow Closely," spending time and effort on stupid stuff.

Then the Universe sends me a clear sign (like finding this video today while searching for an unnecessary photo) and I step back on the path marked, "The Important Things in Life."

Do you ever lose your way?