QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Mary Oliver poems are so amazing because you’ll be like ‘I feel bereft and hopeless and so alone’ and she’ll be like ‘Ok, but have you ever really thought about moss?’ And it turns out you haven’t”
-Jessica Ellis
*gratitude to the friend that sent me this for inspiration this week!
IDEA OF THE DAY
Last week, a client of mine who recently moved to the East Coast excitedly shared their experience of seeing fireflies for the first time, describing it as truly magical. Having grown up in New York, where fireflies were a beloved part of summer, I shared in their wonder. It’s a beautiful reminder that not everyone gets to experience such simple enchantments.
So this week, I wanted to offer a little “firefly moment”—a poem about summer and the quiet joy of slowing down, just as the season invites us to do. Enjoy the poem, and see what it sparks in you.
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver
QUESTION OF THE DAY
When was the last time I slowed down enough to notice the details of the natural world?