Monday Love to your Nest and Nature

“ One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. ”

?~?William Shakespeare

Do you have a favorite time to clean house? Or to put in another way, when do you most appreciate your home? For that matter, how much does having a reasonably organized environment matter to you?

Of all the “dance partners” that you may have in your life, the rooms and gardens that you move in are among the most ubiquitous. If you happen to share them with other people, so much more so.

Everyone has a different setting to their neat-and-tidy barometer. There is definitely a spectrum between the “neat-as-a-pin“ minimalist types and the “knee-deep-in-clutter-but-don’t-see-the-mess” folks.

If you’re like me, you fall somewhere in between. Some days more so than others! Some folks adhere to a strict schedule or routine, others wait for an opportune moment or some sort of a trigger, like knowing that visitors are on the way.

Personally, one of my favorite times to crank up the tunes and whip around the house like Mr. Clean in a whirlwind is on the eve of a big journey. There’s something sublime and satisfying about coming home to a reasonably clean house that makes tidying up before a trip such a pleasure. Part of the wind-up to a journey away from home is putting things in order for a calm and stress-free return.

We recently spent a week in upstate New York, our first time visiting there. If you have never experienced Niagara Falls, believe me, it’s all it’s cracked up to be and more. Natural splendor and spectacular beauty is one thing, but the sheer amount of earth energy expended by all those millions of gallons of water pouring over the rim every second is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

As the oldest State Park in the USA,?Niagara Falls?is apparently the inspiration for the National Park Service. What’s even more amazing is learning the history. By the later part of the 1800s the entire rim of the falls was a hodgepodge of dirty polluting mills and factories taking advantage of the power of falling water.

Thanks to visionaries including landscape designer?Frederick Law Olmsted and architect?Henry Hobson Richardson, the Free Niagara initiative became one of the first successful environmental movements in American history. Land was purchased, mills and factories were torn down and replaced with parks and native vegetation.

Add to that the fact that the Niagara crossing into Canada was key to the success of the Underground Railroad in saving scores of slaves fleeing The South and that it’s also the place where Nikola Tesla invented alternating current electricity, and you have a place of natural wonder that played a role in changing the world. In short — worth the trip.

Whether you’re traveling to somewhere novel and new or simply on an occasional journey for work or pleasure, coming home is a time of decompression and reflection. When you take time to get ahead of the game and prepare your nest for a soft landing, your re-entry will be smooth and you’ll be better equipped to savor the experience!

Much love and happy travels till next week!

M+

Mark Metz Director of the?Dance First Association

Publisher of?Conscious Dancer Magazine

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Monday Love is the weekly inspirational newsletter written by Mark Metz, publisher of Conscious Dancer and director of the Dance First Association. Join our mailing list and learn about membership at www.consciousdancer.com