Realizations while in Banff. #1

The white puffy clouds float by overhead in a sea of brilliant blue sky.

Our spirits, like the lofting black peaks around us, seem to be reaching/searching for the tranquility of that vermilion sea.

The raindrops falling gently on our upturned faces are proof that it is really there, and not just a dream.

Peace, tranquility and love are all around us, as the trees sing their songs, and their leaves do a dance to the wind.

Our very souls are revived and we realize that the entire Earth is alive around us. Even as I hold your hand, the trees are growing, the ocean is rising, and the continents are moving.

We are blessed to be part of this incomprehensible scheme which we try so hard to understand.

Perhaps some time in the future, the eagle soaring through the sky above will explain it all to us.

Until then, we must cherish what we have and care for it, as well as each other, the best we can, never forgetting in our hearts the big picture and that we are an important part of it.

 

Realizations while in Banff. #2

As I look out at the forest on the other side of my window, I realized there is a similarity between my life, and probably yours also, with the life of the trees.

There are young ones that are all green and bushy and very much alive and older ones that are straight and tall with no branches on the trunks as they reach for the sky but still have a lot of green at the top.

It seems the tree is really alive only at the top and has forgotten all the life it had growing up. I think we sometimes forget our past and don’t give it the credit it deserves.

Like the trunk of the tree, our past is our foundation – without it we would have no future. We are living the life our past has trained us to live. There is almost nothing we do today that we did not learn to do in the past.

It is true that the only things that will be difficult in our future are the things we have not yet learned to do in our past.

Today is your past for tomorrow, strive to learn something new every day – so your future will be more interesting than difficult.

 

Realizations while in Banff. #3

On our drive from Canmore, Canada, to see the Columbia Glacier field in Jasper Park, we encountered more tour buses than I could keep track of. It seemed every place we stopped there were at least 40 people milling around that were either coming from, or going back to, one of the 60 passenger buses.

They were always in a hurry because the buses didn’t stop very long at each place and everyone wanted their spot at the railing to photograph the views. Most of them were from faraway places and were as amazed at what they were seeing as we were, but as I sat and watched them fighting for their spot at the rail, I had mixed emotions.

First I was irritated when they pushed in front of me, but as I watched them at all the places we stopped during the day, they didn’t bother me anymore.

I was happy for them to be able to travel here and share the beauty with me. I was sad for them for not having the time to just sit, like Karin and me, so they could absorb what could not be seen, but only felt, for that is what creeps into your soul and is life changing about this place.

The photos I have taken will remind us, and show others, where we were, but only our inner-self can feel the communication we felt with nature, as we sat quietly on the benches around the park, and will have with us for a lifetime.