A Place to See the World

Just Give Me a Place to Sit!  

We know what Archimedes said: 

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

 

No thank you. 

Just give me a place where I see the world and my place in it.

 

This bench sits on the cliffs of Burnt Island Lighthouse which guards the entrance to Boothbay Harbor.  Whenever I go to that island, it is the very first place I go, and to just sit and breathe the place in. My eyes open to the vast channels leading to Boothbay. Something in my soul finds its balance, focus and channel.  

 

 Personally? I think that we spend a lot of time and energy trying to change the world into what we want it to be.  How many of us succeed?  And by the way, whose vision of the world are we to enact—our own understanding of it? 

 

Most of the heartache I feel in other people comes from two facts.  The world is not as they expect it to be. They then try to change it to meet their expectations.  They keep looking for the long enough fulcrum to get what they want in their marriages, families, work and in the community. 

 

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not saying to accept everything exactly as it is.  I am saying—Go find yourself a place to sit where you can get the big picture. Hopefully it will show you that you are just one part of that big picture.  Then, for just a few moments give yourself the grace to sit back and see the world for what it is – and breath it in and relish it. 

 

The one way I do know to personal happiness is finding and accepting yourself in the grand scheme of the world.  It begins by finding a place to sit, see the world, and breathe it in easily, a slow rhythm to match your heart beat.  There’s a lung full of life in it.