We learn what we love

I love sitting outside our new home with my Mom. After living 20 years in Florida our New York rural backyard is quite the change of scenery for her. She often asks me the names of our trees and plants. Although, I haven’t had much time to explore our new land, I am able to answer most of her questions along with adding some interesting details. She always seems amazed and asks me how I know all these things. My simple answer, “We learn what we love.” Basically, I have been exploring the natural world as far back as I can remember. Perhaps, she just thought I was simply playing in the backyard as a child, but it went deeper than that. I would observe how the seasons and land changed and what happened to the critters as they go through metamorphosis in our little brook behind our house. I was very curious about everything in the woods and was fortunate to grow up on over 2 acres of forested land in suburbia.

When I was little we went to the Bronx Zoo, and remember reading a poem by a Senegalese conservationist that was engraved into a stone wall.

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”― Baba Dioum

The quote resonated with me and has stayed with me ever since. I love learning about the natural world, and, I’ve always tried my best to conserve all its wonderful resources. Simply put, I feel at home, at peace in the natural world ~ understanding the flow and connections is down right thrilling for me. The experience centers me. When I go too long without a pause in nature, I can feel its absence deep inside, like my soul screaming for relief. The simple antidote ~ walk outside, hug a tree, and be with the natural world. Some days it may be more challenging to steal a moment from my daily tasks but I try my best to not go too long without it.

I think it is so important to find out what we enjoy in life and pursue it. Yes, we all need to make a living and can’t always support ourselves by pursuing our passions. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that our passions can’t be part of our lives. Some lucky souls may have the good fortune to pursue their passion everyday, while there is always evenings, weekends or time after retirement for everyone else.  Regardless, we must all explore life and find joy, whatever it may be.

4 thoughts on “We learn what we love

  1. It is so true that I learn what I love. In school, I learned everything because it made the adults happy. At the ripe old age of 30, I find myself catching up on lost time, learning plants and animals and fungi, and how I can incorporate them into my life. The learning curve is steep, but it hardly feels like learning (as I’ve previously known it), because it’s what I love! I just spent some time in Sloatsburg and Tupper Lake, NY, this past weekend. Lots of beautiful country up there!

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