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Life is Wonderful

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Life is Wonderful

Posted by: Simone Landers

Life is Wonderful

Life is Wonderful It was a quiet and overcast day at the hide with just myself and one guest. We watched the waterhole as terrapins climbed in and out of the water, listening to chirping birds and the wind howling through the trees. As I sat consumed in my own thoughts I suddenly had an “aah haa” moment… You know that moment you realise something so significant that you have never really considered? While there were not many animals at the waterhole I realised how much life surrounded me; it is so wonderful!

We spend our lives living at such a fast pace where the world is available to you in an instant. Travel becomes redundant as the internet provides virtual tours through cities, food only takes a moment to prepare with fast food restaurants and microwave dishes available in minutes, short text messages to get right to the point and news taking only moments to get from one side of the world to the other. Majority of the day is spent in traffic jams and office blocks and we miss the tangible beauty that is right at our fingertips; life.

The new year is coming and after a busy year it is time to sit back and reflect on the amazing, difficult, tear jerking and heart warming moments that have past. We miss so much of life because we are in such a hurry to get things done and barely have time to absorb the feelings evoked by these precious and rare times. The new year should be about slowing down and taking notice of the wonders and magic which engulfs us. It is time to appreciate the complexities the earth has to offer and the simplicity of the emotions they bubble up inside our souls; a beautiful sunrise, a shooting star in a moonlit sky, a mother rhino protecting her calf, a flowering tree, a weaver working ever so hard to build his nest.

As we left the hide the rain began to fall and while usually I would be upset to get wet, I looked up at the sky to feel the cool droplets on my face. As I brought my head down and opened my eyes, a lioness stood in the long grass only 5m from the vehicle, with wide golden eyes she stared at us for a moment and proceeded to walk towards the water. We followed her as she stepped gracefully with her perfectly formed muscular body passed the water hole and up the road taking in everything which surrounded her and noticing every movement, every sound. Her ears pricked up moving from side to side, her eyes darting back and forth and her tail swishing just above the grass. She slowly dissolved back in to the bush full of purpose as though she knew exactly where she wanted to be and what she was looking for. Make 2014 be about slowing your life down to take in the miracles around you, being happy and enjoying the time that you have; life is wonderful!