lion taming

In the battle of man vs. nature, it's commonly understood that nature is going to win.  It's like this in every book where man (and I do mean MAN, usually) goes up against nature and tries to survive/tame/whatever - nature always comes out on top. 

For this reason, I don't know why I bother with things like dandelions.  They seem to crop up everywhere, and the latest place is each and every crack of our back patio.  They're heaving the paver bricks up and out, and trying to pull the beasts merely results in a handful of leaves, with the stubborn taproot still firmly in place, under the patio.

Since today seems like it will be the last of our unseasonably warm days, I've relocated myself out onto the patio, which is what makes me think of it.  Posting a picture feels like one of those ads for Fosters beer.

(Australian for Home Office)

At any rate, the (wo)man vs. nature topic is something I've been mulling over lately, as I struggle to determine what exactly my nature is, in order to best work with it, rather than fighting against it, since we all know it's a losing battle anyhow.  I recently read that there are a bunch of folks discussing how we should be playing to our strengths, rather than fighting against our weaknesses, in order to live happy and fulfilling lives.  This seems rather obvious to me.  If you hate cold weather, you wouldn't move to Alaska in order to work on it (or maybe you would, but that's your issue, not mine).  And yet, there seems to be an almost irresistible temptation to try to do -- or be -- things that go against our nature.

Perhaps this is because figuring out what one's "nature" is in the first place can be such a challenge.  I know that it isn't easy for me, and I spend more time ruminating over it than most people, I think.  Although I am starting to think that maybe it's all that thinking that's the problem.