Back in the 1880s while living as a sawyer in Yosemite National Park, America’s first ecologist, John Muir, lived face to face with nature. He climbed into the High Sierras throughout his life. He summited mountains, fished in clear streams and discovered deep secrets of Earth’s eternal gyrations. He became a prolific writer and poet. Muir loved the deepest perfection of nature’s web of life.

(Strive to thrive in the sunlight nature provides you daily. Seek the woods for your body, mind and spirit. Accept your “point of true beginning” with a sense of passion, purpose and joy. Life awaits you.)

At one point, in order to feel what a tree felt during an incoming tempest, he decided to climb a 125-foot lodge pole pine as the storm front raged over the valley. Knowing the winds could whip him out of the tree, he roped himself to the topmost portion of the trunk.

That night, raging gusts pulled at him. Wild torrents soaked him. Cold winds pelted him with sleet. In the morning, he climbed out of the tree with a profound understanding of nature’s ability to equip each of its creatures with the perfect design to thrive during the tempests of life.

Muir wrote, “How many hearts with warm red blood in them are beating under the cover of the woods, and how many teeth and eyes are shining? A multitude of animal people, intimately related to us, but whose lives we know nothing, are as busy about their own affairs as we are about ours.”

Think a moment about that statement. Every creature lives his or her life according to a master design and a master strategy. Animals live by instinct to their highest and best survival.

Humans equate to animals that think, but nothing more. Subsequently, we enjoy choice of paths, purpose and possibilities.

At the same time, we face sunny skies, quiet days, dreary days and storms that may toss us every which way but loose. So, for our lives, we need to cultivate in ourselves deep roots to hold us in the whirlwinds that cross over us at each juncture of our existence.

Rachel Naomi Remen once talked about her life as a little girl. Her father and mother loved constructing puzzles. However, her father always hid the puzzle face so she didn’t know how it would look when completed.

At five years of age, she didn’t like the dark colored parts of a puzzle because they reminded her of the gloom and spiders. Therefore, she hid 100 pieces beneath the couch cushions. Her perplexed parents couldn’t finish the puzzle. Exasperated, her mother asked, “Do you know what happened to the missing puzzle parts?”

She led her mother to the hidden pieces. When they completed the puzzle, Remen realized that the dark parts complimented the light parts and the blue pieces completed the green pieces. When the final piece locked into place, she cheered at the wonder of the picture before her.

Each of us faces dark parts, light parts and every variation of storms in our own lives.

Ultimately, your life features every color of the rainbow. Embrace each learning experience in order to gain the richness and tapestry of your life. Grow your roots into the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual soil provided for you each day.

Storms may greet you; ride them out. Sunny days thrill you; enjoy them for their nourishment to your soul. Painful days await your patience; count on your spiritual guidance. Every kind of tempest, both large and small, moves toward you throughout your life; revel in the opportunity to grow your confidence, mind and spiritual roots.

Another poet Robert Rains said, “Trust in the rapids of change as well as the rocks of continuity. Stop digging in your heels against the tides of tomorrow.”

While you face many storms in your life, just like John Muir, guess what…millions of your fellow humans face them with you.

How do you grow those roots? In surveying, the surveyor carries a special telescope on a tripod that gives him “The point of true beginning.” That’s the absolute point where everything originates.

When you give your utmost mental, physical and spiritual energy to your personal growth, you discover your own “point of true beginning” just like every other creature on this planet. Trust in the perfection of your master design. Compare yourself to no one; strive for your highest and best; and finally seek your “point of true beginning” every day of your life. It will come to you.

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Author's Bio: 

Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents and 11 times across the USA in the past 40 years. His 12 published books enlighten, inspire and encourage readers to live at their highest and best. www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com