A series drawing on a therapist’s insights into play, wandering, and presence in relation to vocational exploration and discernment.
I first came upon the tantalizing phrase, “idle and blessed,” in Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day”:
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
It is in such unhurried states—with an open heart and peaceful mind—that callings often stir. I have found that nature walks offer a practice of intentional “idleness,” which allow the mind to wander and reflect, to stir rich self-understanding “blessedly” and to deepen vocational discernment.