LOOKING CLOSER (HOLLY SCHINDLER)

I feel like summer’s quickly passing me by.  I’ve been working on a rewrite for my next YA for the past couple of months, and have had my head stuck in my computer.  Oh, sure, I’ve been enjoying our unusually mild Missouri weather by writing on my back deck…But have I been picnicking?  Vacationing?  Out at the lake?  Taking in ball games? 

Nope.

One thing I have been doing the past few months is yoga.  It’s been good on this writer’s chair-ridden back and, unexpectedly, good on the soul, too.  One lesson yoga teaches is the importance of stillness.  Yoga emphasizes that progress is not married to constant movement, and insists that strides can be made when you give yourself permission to be quiet and motionless.  

I think there’s great truth to that.  When we stop moving, we give ourselves permission to see the world in a new way.  We also give ourselves the chance to stay in one place long enough to look deeper, see what we never have before.  

Roots of a tree in my backyard...

We see what’s been hiding right under our noses.

A frog who apparently lives near the root of the tree in my backyard.  My brother's named him Roger Ribbit.

I can’t wait to see what’s out there waiting to be discovered during this last month of summer…