Attitude of Exploration

It is wild to realize that it has been a full year since I packed up my car to begin the journey back East after having spent a year living in Oregon. Strange to think that the same amount of time I spent out West has now passed yet again. There was something about the timestamp of only having one year in Oregon that made me acutely aware of time slipping away. We only had a certain amount of time, so we lived with that awareness: made sure that we packed it all in, took notice of everything.

There is a danger of slipping into normalcy now that I am comfortable in New York. Normalcy meaning that I have discovered myself in a situation mirroring stability (which I am completely thankful for), but comfort always seems to run the risk of dulling that sense of exploration that I so fully value.  I am striving to maintain and fuel that lens of awareness regardless of having a year-deadline or being in one place for an undetermined amount of time. Looking at wherever I am through such a lens regardless if that place is new or old, unfamiliar or fully known; regardless if I am living out of a suitcase or have everything hung up in a closet. A year in New York and it is good to reflect on that reminder: to pack it all in, take notice of everything. 

"Discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes." -Marcel Proust

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." -Ansel Adams

Photo by Mike Noel, Multnomah Falls, Oregon February 2011