Sometimes, our greatest teachers are places.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
I was reading Cleo Wade’s newsletter about her new book launch, In a World of Sunrises, and she said:
“New Orleans has been my greatest teacher in resilience. The wisdom of this city flows through many pages of this book.”
It made me think of Florida. Florida has been one of my greatest teachers— teaching me stillness, resilience and endurance.
Florida has been my place of back-to-back hurricanes, survival of them, heat that will melt your face off, and skipping through green lawns barefoot in torrential rains. It’s a place for starting again.
It’s the place where no matter how hard the previous day was, the sun rises again with the morning mist and fog refreshing everything in its reach. The morning dew forgives all, and it blankets the wildlife and farm animals in sparkles. Every spiderweb bedazzled.
The trees stand high, and the Spanish Moss hangs low. The springs bubble with abundance and harmony. In their clarity, you learn to see. You drive down a road engulfed in the expansive blue sky ahead, as if you are driving straight into the sky in the horizon.
It’s a place where the humidity will make you feel like you have lost your mind, but in that process you find yourself, over and over and over again.
I recently returned, and nothing comforted me more than seeing that open fields and stretches of green land remain. The fields get misty and the sun still beats down on all the same.
Florida has this feral vibe that strips all pretense and frivolity, and it leaves you with what the soul really needs.
In each sunrise, she gives her gift to anyone willing to receive it.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 