Contact Michele
Welcome to Coastland Contemplation, a column intended as inspirational entertainment. I'm Michele Oksen.
My home, since 1983, is a remote cabin in the Santa Lucia Mountains between Cambria and Paso Robles. I overlook Lake Nacimiento from land my grandfather traded a horse and some tires for in the early 1930's.
My sincere hope is that each month you will join me for an online nature walk somewhere in these magnificent Pacific coastlands. Each time we step into the virtual great outdoors together I aspire to, with nature's guidance, encourage you to find opportunities to contemplate life and evolution.
Contact Marcia
In 2004, Marcia Rhoades and her husband, John, moved from Salt Lake City to Cambria. Life at their Grace Meadows Ranch in the Santa Lucia Mountains gives Marcia endless opportunities to photograph wildlife and the natural beauty of the Central Coast. |
|
Coulter Pines, Part II – Achieving Great Results
by Michele Oksen
We're thankful all of November and cheerful the entire month of December. Now it's January and we're expected to be enthusiastic about fitness, health, wealth, and whatever else we believe will add to our happiness quotient.
January – resolutions, a month to determine, declare, and dedicate ourselves to desired goals. January - the beginning of the rest of our lives. No pressure there.
In January we aspire to achieve great results and in nature the Coulter pine cone can show us how it's done. You may remember from Coastland Contemplations' December 2011 column that Coulter pine cones grow to be the heaviest in the world. The size of large pineapples, it takes two years for these cones to mature. Some may weigh in at ten pounds. Sticky, sparkling, and resinous drippings cover the claw like scales and create a challenge to those who want to embellish home and hearth with them. Not only that - old timers like to call falling cones “widow makers”. Cone gathers should be aware of this.
 |
So how do the heaviest cones in the world achieve such impressive results? While these special cones are not out to set any records and they do not compete or weigh their worth in comparison with others, they are masters at maximizing the potential to grow. No energy spent keeping up with the neighbors, Coulter pine cones humbly assimilate and utilize available resources as they go about their natural development. Attached to their strong and secure support system until maturity, Coulter pine cones thrive on foundations that are deeply rooted in the nourishment of an environment that enriches and encourages their extraordinariness.
The will, the focus, and the intention to advance – whether physically, intellectually, or spiritually – contributes to the possibility, even the probability, of it. If we ground ourselves in gratitude and offer ourselves in service of the greater good we may grow to be the human beings we were meant to be. Luckily, here on our Slo Coast we live where we are free to cultivate grand achievements - the grandest being evolution of our own consciousness.
Think big!
Photo: sticky cone by Michele Oksen
Photo: Coulter Pine Cones and Bark by Marcia Rhoades
Banner image by Fugle
|
