The View From Sedona

Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona

Among the pitfalls of writing for a living is that you can find yourself in an echo chamber, spending too much time in front of a computer, cut off from your subject and isolated from your audience. Even if you’ve never needed to supplement your writing income with a day job (lucky you!), getting out in the world can bring a fresh perspective, or at least a few good anecdotes.

One of the most entertaining encounters I had while working on Sedona’s busy retail strip was with the guy looking for The View. He burst into the gallery a bit disheveled and out of breath. “Where’s the view?” he demanded. “People told me there was a view here.”

Bear in mind there are only three ways in and out of Sedona, each considered scenic routes. After a few questions, I learned that he had arrived via the Red Rock Scenic Byway, which winds between several monumental red sandstone formations, including Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, and Cathedral Rock. If he didn’t spot a “view” along that route, I wasn’t sure I could help him.

I suggested a couple possibilities, somehow managing to refrain from adding the suggestion he get his vision checked. After he left, I realized it was his inner vision that that needed examining. Chances are, he had heard about Sedona from someone, and he traveled here with a particular vision in mind. For me, it was a lesson in how expectations can close us off from experience.

Expectations, familiarity, busy-ness—all these can cloud perception and separate us from the things we love, both people and places. When we take a vacation, we vacate our everyday lives. And when we travel with an open mind and open heart, we feel a renewed sense of discovery and enthusiasm. But we don’t need a plane ticket to make every day a discovery.

Today, plant a seed, smell a wildflower, enjoy the sun on your skin. Do something you’ve never done before, or try approaching something familiar as though you’re a traveler seeing it for the first time. Open your eyes and heart to the majesty of your familiar earth home. As T.S. Eliot wrote: “[T]he end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

Happy Earth Day!