Photo by lwpkommunikacio on Flickr

I delight in being in and around water. It’s a soul-satisfying joy to have my feet in the sand while gazing toward the horizon across the ocean. That first plunge into a swimming pool, wet and weightless, is bliss. Jumping waves with my kids or dangling my feet off a dock by the lake – so good. The feel of the sun on my skin with the sound of water rippling nearby uncoils pent up tension. I even welcome rain – mist or torrent, daylong downpour or quick storm. It somehow pitches me back into the real world.

The genuine comforts of touching the real world can get submerged in the artificial world most of us live in day to day.

Our time here is short. Heartbreak could be around the corner. Or joy. But this place is home and we should accept what is and immerse ourselves fully in the human experience. Too often we yearn to be somewhere other than here and now, or we live for what we hope will be some eternal reward. But life before death, that’s the challenge, that’s what is before us every day, every moment.

We are not strangers in a strange land, set apart from nature. We are of this world no matter how much we attempt to disconnect from it. Put your bare feet on the grass and know that you are in your element. Wade in the water; walk in the rain. Breathe in and breathe out in full awareness of the life force of this incredible planet. There’s no place like home.