Even though I don’t tend to use fresh phrases when I write or speak, they delight me. Therefore, I felt intrigued when I discovered one (“the landscape of life”) someone else had written.
Although I hadn't thought about associating the word landscape with life, I suddenly saw the connection.
Physical Landscapes
Some of the features in a physical landscape are natural—boulders, mountains, bodies of water, cliffs, etc. Others are added by humans. For example, property owners create whatever “look” pleases them (or they can choose to do nothing).
Case in point: when my husband and I vacationed in Arizona several years ago, we
noticed striking differences between the green lawns that were as irrigated
and well-tended as golf courses and those that were left in their natural
desert-like state. The contrast was even more evident when the lawns were
adjacent to each other. Each “look” was beautiful and reflected the preferences
of the owners.
Life Landscapes
I suppose some folks, when asked to describe the “landscape of their lives,” might use a fresh phrase such as:
- “My life looks as barren as the desert.”
- “My life is as bleak as the Arctic in winter.”
- “My life is as interesting as the rainforest.”
- “My life is as lush as an island paradise.”
Whatever the landscape of our life looks like, we can choose to leave it like it is or enhance it, even if we can’t completely change it. How?
There are some things we could do.
- Take a close look at what our life currently looks like.
- Dream a little about what we’d like it to look like.
- Calculate the cost involved in changing it. Do we want to invest that much? Will the ROI (Return on Investment) be worth it?
- If so, then set to work making the changes we envision.
- Enjoy the results of our hard work.
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| Photo by Johnnie Ann Gaskill. |
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