Hillbilly wisdom: everyday life happens for you. Life is there, around you. All you have to do is open your senses and participate. Participation can be as simple as observing. There is no rush. Most people divide life into periods – days, hours, minutes, time if you will. These people do this scheduling for convenience. They will speak about the first time they met you or some event. For them life is a series of events that involve time and space. This approach works for them.

Others view life differently. Life just is. Life is continuous, never starting or ending. You might say it flows or that it is continuous. Both of these approaches work for those using them. And they are not mutually exclusive. Nor are they necessarily in competition with each other. A different approach or view point sometimes makes life better. Sharing view points can hopefully bring people together. It is impossible to understand life if you live it confined in your shell. Take, for example, the turtle. The turtle lives inside a shell. At times, the turtle will withdraw inside its shell. It might be that the turtle is afraid or it might just be resting. I do not know. One of the languages that I have failed is turtle. So we can not communicate. But we share characteristics in our approach to life. No. You say. Think about this. In all my interactions with turtles, it is my observation that the turtle never gets anywhere if the turtle does not stick its neck out first. Now, some turtles may move with their heads still in the shell? You may have seen this. So, I ask you. How far did did the turtle get before they run into something?

Human shells are not as visible as the turtle’s shell but we have shells. And like the turtle, human shells provide protection in times when we are afraid or need to rest. But when it is time to move, it is my recommendation that you stick your neck out to avoid running into something.

An avoidance of objects lessens stress as there are fewer restarts. Maybe that is why the turtle lives longer than humans. The pace of the turtle is not fast. Truly, turtles don’t move very fast but they get there and maybe, just maybe, turtles see and enjoy life because they take their time.