Reflections in the Wellspring

Daily life carries within it the potential to be life in all its fullness. So why does it so often not feel like that!

 

from The Summer Day

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

                                                                        Mary Oliver

We are not built to live on spiritual highs. Most of us have moments that we remember – when life felt good – when we felt whole – when we sensed a world full of promise. But those moments cannot last. The washing-up needs to be done – the children need looking after – the workplace needs our attention – and a myriad other things bring us back to earth. We often (though, admittedly, not always, have a choice in how we do that return to earth. Is it with a bump which leaves us feeling frustrated and somehow minimises what we have experienced? Or do we grab a moment of reflection that eases us back down? A moment of thanksgiving – a moment of storing our experience away as a “soul memory” – a treasure to await us in heaven.

Reflection in the Wellsprings is not about contemplating our navels – pondering the meaning of life in the abstract. It is about reflecting on our experiences in ways that give meaning to our life. People have found many ways of practising this and developing the skills that help it to become a habit. This section of the site offers a few of those ways, drawing on nature and traditional spiritual sources that help us to become more aware and sensitive to what the ordinary and everyday offer us.