Problems are more likely to be overwhelming when multiple kinds of problem are tangled together: uncertainty, disappointment, apparent defeat, the sheer difficulty of what is to be done, the immensity of the task, and the inexplicable in a situation. How do you learn the matching positive attitudes?
Vacations are part of that dimension of life that I call walking in beauty. Research indicates that we typically go back to work after a vacation, and after three weeks it is as though we had never gone on vacation at all. But a true vacation should discover new ways to abide ever more joyously in the divinely beautiful dimension of life that is always there if we sincerely, wholeheartedly, and persistently seek it.
Like air fresh-cleansed by rain,
and shining grass
in bright and gently sun-
lit day . . . .
“Walking in beauty” is a Navajo phrase that symbolizes a cosmically attuned and responsible way of life. Coping with hardship or gathering in celebration, our fulfillment comes as part of nature, through the arts, with others in society, and in relationship to the divine. At its best, every culture in its particular beliefs and practices … Read more