All possibilities entertained.......

 The first snow.

There is no sound to herald its arrival, no thunder no lightning,

no stormy winds, just a subtle change in the air.

Like tiny perfectly sculpted works of art the snowflakes

gently drops from the skies and in doing so totally redressing

everything upon which it falls.

In total silence a heavy snowfall can transform a dark and

hostile looking country landscape into a glistening, sparkling

white wonderland.

Gone are the claw shaped leafless branches, the bristles,

the briars and the thorns. So too, the sharp edged rocks, and

the many, many, marks made by industrious humans. 

Ground frozen, silences the farming machinery, the

bleating animals, and the babbling brooks.

 Lakes and trees stay silent under the weight of layers of 

ice and snow.

Critters have gone into hiding and many birds have flown.

Snow, especially when voluminous, is a great transformer.

It transforms frozen fields and ponds into glistening

white plains, it blurs the ''sharp'' and brightens the light,

it mutes the loud and enhances the soft.

As a person who has had the fortune of having

experienced many winters, for me snow represents

transformation and a chance to scrutinize and challenge

 my perspectives.

Years ago I read somewhere: ''All possibilities entertained.''

Reading those words made me realize how often I would

fail to do so. 

We all have ''mindsets''. When we experience something

our mindsets kick in, (often before we have had the time to really

think properly about the experience) and we act accordingly.

(Sardines!!?? Yuck, no, I don't want any sardines!!

You don't like them? I've never had one, but I know I wont like it.)

Often the outcome of a single experience is enough for us to

settle on an ''absolute''. As in: ''All xxx tastes awful, everyone from xxx is

untrustworthy, everyone lies, cheats, steals, etc. etc.''

We make thousands of decisions everyday and as we are

creatures of habit we tend to decide once and then stick to it.

Seldom to we question ourselves: do I really like coffee, sleeping

on the right side, exercise every day, dress in xxx, etc. etc.?

We form opinions and attitudes, belief systems and physical

behaviour patterns that we feel are right for us and then

stick to them.

Often it takes something drastic for us to start challenging

our mindsets/attitudes/opinions.

Those words, ''All possibilities entertained'' flung open a

window in my mind and in came the words: are there

other possible ways to think, feel, view.... xxx?

''If you change the way you look at things,

the things you look at change.''

(Wayne Dyer)

Water, what is it?

Someone having a glass of water will say it is a liquid.

Someone tossing coal into a steam engine will say it is a 

vapor/steam.

Someone ice-skating on a frozen lake will say it is a solid.

Someone catching a snowflake on his/her tongue will say

it is all the above.

It's all a matter of perspective.

about the image: ''First day of snow"

Ink on paper