inspiration
a reflection
on reflections
Finding the wild amongst the ordinary
In a food hall at lunchtime, I realised how close we are to nature – and how close it is to us. I had spent the morning marching amongst trees and along streams, determined to find either inspiration or insight. I found neither, but I wouldn’t count that time as a waste. Fans swivelled on overdrive, locked in a fierce duel with the heat, while I faced a battle of my own: a particularly potent case of post-meal lethargy. Sinking back in my chair, I closed my eyes and let the jazz trio upstairs’ thumps, thrums, and tinkles wash over me. Slowly, as the music swelled, my mind came alive. In every strike of a piano key, I saw a woodpecker carving itself a new home, and each
thick pluck of the double bass took the form of a spiderweb wobbling under the weight of a dewdrop. The drums’ rise and fall, the crash of their cymbals, were waves breaking on an imaginary shore, and songs became choirs, echoing out from a canopy high above. I’ve been making more of an effort to spend time in nature and to learn about it. The more I do, the more I see it reflected in everyday life. Nature is everything, and it is in everything. When the veil between the natural world and our modern one grows opaque and obstructive, we need only spend time in nature to feel close to it again. In doing so, we learn to recognise the beauty in even the most mundane things.
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