Thursday, January 27, 2011

Paths


Yesterday was a busy day and didn't go quite as planned.  I'm feeling a few steps behind today and I'm nursing a cup (or stein as my friend Karen would say) of coffee and pondering instead of doing.


  I've been thinking a lot about the ideas of direction lately and how to find it.   Choosing a path...how to stay on course...how to make time for wandering...wandering in the right way, because sometimes wandering becomes floundering, and that's not what I want to do...

All topics for another day, but these are subjects that rattle around in my head when I'm not chasing kids or poking wool with needles.  For now I'll leave you with a well-known poem by Frost that I love, and my favorite quote from Thoreau so you can do your own pondering.


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~Robert Frost 1915


" All that I could say, then, with respect to farming on a large scale- I have always cultivated a garden- was that I had had my seeds ready.  Many think that seeds improve with age I have no doubt that time discriminates between the good and the bad and when at last I shall plant I shall be less likely to be disappointed."
Henry David Thoreau from Walden

Have a great day, everyone.

10 comments:

Cheryl Kugler, Artist said...

Lisa - I found the book "Walking in this World" by Julia Cameron a great source of inspiration for staying on the creative path.
Although, in following your blog, it seems you need no direction/motivation there! ;)

karen said...

Very beautiful words Lisa! I agree with Cheryl. You're on the right path already.

Margie Oomen said...

yes you are on a very good path but there are many good paths to choose from every day
love your stones, your poem, your quote, your stein of coffee and you

Unknown said...

I love that poem so very much...I feel the same way today, wondering, pondering instead of doing. This makes me impatient with myself, me who usually has at least six things going on at once. Ah, "sufficient for each day, (as the scripture says) is its own anxiety"
Tomorrow, will be better!

Tara said...

So much goes through one`s mind in the span of an otherwise ordinary day. Here`s to the opportunity to choose a path. I like the path you`ve chosen.

Anonymous said...

I know what you are going through. And my coffee stein was brimming all day today too, trying to figure out which path to take, thinking.... and thinking some more, in between refills. In the end, though, your 'gut' will tell you. And it's usually right. I have faith in you...and your coffee.

Laura said...

I've been doing a lot of thinking about paths lately... so hard to decide. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.

This is My Life said...

My favorite Robert Frost Poem. The path you have created in your photo is lovely.

This is My Life said...

My favorite Robert Frost Poem. The path you have created in your photo is lovely.

Scrapiana said...

Great Thoreau quotation. I don't know who said it but really like the 'all who wander are not lost' line. It give me hope that I'm not floundering!

This is a really hard one, Lisa. I don't have the answer, but I'm sure good things will turn up on whatever paths you choose. Keep planting those seeds.

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