I have been thinking back over 2021, trying to make sense of the challenges that we have undergone and overcome, trying to make sense of it all. Time after time my thoughts return to the sixth century B.C. venerated philosopher, Lao Tzu, and I hear him whispering in my ear: When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
This may be the greatest gift that 2021 has so generously bestowed upon me. It has offered me the opportunity to rethink, to re-imagine my life and my world, and to rejoice in gratitude for this emerging awareness. I am feeling appropriately small in the midst of my magnificent surroundings.
2021 has refreshed the window through which I view the world, including my fungal world. Yes, I now find enhanced fulfillment and deeper meaning and more sustained pleasure by having set aside long-held beliefs and desires and, instead, discovering joy in the simplicity and subtlety of the treasures that are offered: a solitary mushroom standing defiantly in the sun-drenched landscape, the pattern of raindrops on leaves of a native rhododendron triumphing under a dense tree canopy, the early morning sun's rays dancing amongst the evergreens and reflecting on the Sandy River, December's powdery snowflakes clinging to drooping vine maple branches …
Welcome, 2022, and may you bring lessons and inspiration into all facets of our lives, enhancing the gifts of your beloved older sister, the year that has just passed, 2021.
Silently soaring above the silty Sandy River, our resident bald
eagle welcomes the new year with grace and
determination, filling the sky with his majesty and filling me
with awe! Mural by Becky Hawley.