A lesson from Mother Nature on change.

Modern man has a problem with waiting. This cultural attention deficit poses a real problem when it comes to change. Meaningful change, the kind that's worth pursuing, doesn't happen overnight. 

While scratching away at my morning pages, I was riffing on the notion that nature is aesthetic perfection. Though man is a part of nature, our creations aren't always harmonious with this aesthetic. Why, my favorite question, is a subject for another post. 

In most instances, nature's most stunning beauty didn't arise in a matter of days -- or weeks, or months, or centuries for that matter. It took time. Lots of it. It was the steady, eroding force of the Colorado River that carved the Grand Canyon, the persistent movement of plate collision that gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains. 

I think, aesthetically speaking, where man and nature's creations diverge is the allowance for time. Granted, we don't have thousands of years to paint our masterpiece. But we can't wake up one day, expect to be a painter, and be one. As Pressfield would say, we must set the table for the Muses, always keep a steady fire going in the hearth, and show up. We need to let time have its way.