WILD AND PRECIOUS!

There is an often quoted portion of American poet Mary Oliver’s 1992 poem, and it goes like this:

Tell me - what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.

Wild and precious! I’m not sure we think of our lives that way while deep in our everyday routines, but what a wonderful view of what we have at our fingertips. Wild, as in exciting, unpredictable, limitless. Precious, as in special and fleeting.

Today I’d like to think about the question Oliver posed, and give some answers from my point of view. And I can't proceed without thinking about FEAR.

What would I do or be or practice if I had no fear or if I faced those fears honestly and kept on going? Maybe I’d learn to fly a plane or cut my hair differently or move to a new city (with my husband, of course!). Maybe I’d dance the tango in NYC! Would I be braver in my most important relationships?

What would you do if fear was not an option or barrier?

If you faced each day with the understanding that time is seriously limited and precious, what would you do differently? How would you face relationships and risk taking? With whom would you spend your precious time?

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?