Sarengeti

Between latitudes 1 and 3 degrees south latitude and  34 and 36 degrees east longitude, spanning 12,000 miles in north Tanzania extending to southwestern Kenya lay the Serengeti Plains; one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world, renowned for its large lion population.  The Serengeti Plains is the best place on earth to observe prides in their natural environment.

I have never seen the Serengeti Plains in person, only in pictures.  My mind cannot conceive the sense of freedom, adventure and danger lurking over 12,000 miles of plains in beautiful Africa.

Most of us will never experience such a sight first-hand.  However, if we stop long enough and hit “pause,” we will discover the Serengeti Plains.  

Serengeti Plains is the place we find freedom of spirit.  It’s that place that causes us to forget about the pressures and burdens of life, even if just for a moment, and enter into a place that supersedes reality.

We each have a Serengeti Plain.  One need only stop and reflect upon that which brings freedom of spirit; that experience which makes time stand still.  That place where beauty and awe and wonder replace worry and fear and pain.

Serengeti Plain need not be a literal place, as it also embodies anything that brings the spirit to full attention.

A swim in the ocean, perched on a deer stand in the woods, singing, a prayer from the heart, dancing, running, beholding a sunset, holding a child, flying a plane, looking into the eyes of the aging and seeing the beauty of another’s life—Serengeti Plain.

Serengeti Plain is where we go to escape where we are, who we are, and all that is wrong in the world.  It is a place of forgetting and it is a place of remembering.  It is a place to behold beauty and it is a place to embrace pain.  It is a place like nowhere else.  It is a place we long for and a place which may require the courage of a lion to enter.  Either way, the experience makes it impossible to leave the Plains the same person you were when you entered.  

When I am in my own Serengeti Plain, the world comes to a slow spin, I am able to feel each breath.  I am aware of who I am—the real me.  Peace replaces worry, calm kicks out fear and stillness becomes my closest companion.

If you find yourself struggling with your purpose and wondering about your true identity, it’s time to visit your Serengeti Plain.

Upon exiting the Plains, make sure to take your real self with you back into the merciless world of chaos and pretense.  

Stay the Course...

Sheila Cote'