I am in Colorado this week spending time with my parents. As I was sorting through images to select for this week’s letter, I was drawn to this painting created just before we left Colorado and moved to Washington. What strikes me about it now is how it captures the colors and mood of the weather most days here in the PNW. As I think of the start of the year, I am suddenly intrigued to consider geography and navigation as reference points to chart a path for 2024. Usually I am obsessed with creating goals. But this painting got me thinking about geography instead and how location and our surroundings dramatically impact who we are and what we become.
My western mind has often under estimated the impact of the land and environment on me, my thinking, and my sense of self. The move to Washington has created a sharp comparison between life in Colorado and life in Washington, and a return home to Colorado heightens the comparisons in my mind. As I ran a quick errand for my mom, I had to remember to speed up not to be overtaken by the myriad of cars rushing by. Along the front range on any major thoroughfare, there seems an allergy to going slow as roads are straight (for the most part) and the view is unobstructed. In contrast, the roads in Poulsbo weave back and forth nestled deep between forests. You can’t go fast because you’ll have to turn before you catch any sort of speed. Businesses are hidden behind layers of trees. Fog settles in and stays. Months go by before I realize that a certain business or landmark is tucked just behind a dense section of trees. This landscape is changing me. It slows me down. It makes me pay attention and investigate what is beyond my first glance. The landscape itself speaks to, and maybe forms, introverts.
All of this made me wonder about incorporating landscape into my planning of who I will become and what I will experience in 2024. Of course landscape is part and parcel of life, but I want to become conscious of the voice of the land. Rather than building a long list of goals, I am inspired to listen more to my physical surroundings. How can I learn from the lush green moss, the ancient ferns, the clouds and rain that hide rather than expose? How can I learn from the tides and the moon? How can I learn to slow down enough to navigate this new territory and new year with curiosity and grace?
Until next Friday!
Be well, breathe, read, and make some art!
Jen