Looking

As certain as weather coming from the west, the things people know for sure will change. There is no knowing for a fact.  The only dependable things are humility and looking.  

I thought of this paragraph from Richard Power’s novel, Overstory, when I went on my first walk on the Ashuwillticook Trail since coming back to the Berkshires in early April.  I had been looking forward to seeing the signs of spring along the path and taking pictures that would inspire my daily Haikus.

As I looked along the side of the trail, my mind briefly registered a bleached white log with black bumps sticking out of the water. I walked on. On the way back, I saw a woman taking pictures at that spot and thought perhaps she had found the colors interesting. However, as I was about to pass her, she invited me to look at the turtles.

It turns out that the “black bumps” were turtles sitting on the log. They were so still I had assumed they were some form of vegetation.   

Although I would have described my walk as leisurely, I had failed to take the time to really look. It made me wonder what else I had missed.

Perhaps that’s where humility comes in. I take a lot for granted in the natural world around me that “looking” with intention might reveal.