Life Experiences & Observations

Where I work they have a gravel path around the building. It’s nice to work for a company that cares enough about its employees physical health to build such a walking path. This morning while taking a short 15 minute break to walk, I came upon one of the few benches that are on the path. Walking closer I decided to sit down on one of them and just check the world of social media using my phone. I started to get sucked into, what I like to call, the social media vortex. Upon looking down at my phone I could see past it and caught a glimpse of a small stream of gravel moving. “Am I hallucinating?” I said to myself. That thought quickly faded when I realized I was seeing a stream of very small ants marching in line like a perfectly trained band. Believe it or not, I started staring and watching closer. Microscopic nature was actually slowly rescuing me from the vortex. Watching these ants for a few minutes brought some welcomed mindfulness to my morning. It’s amazing how quickly watching some microscopic bugs can relax you.

If you can get past the ick factor, which is pretty easy for me, you might be able to realize that ants are amazing. The distance they can go in very short period of time almost seems impossible. In my few minutes of watching I saw an ant probably go a few feet. If you think about it, its almost like me running 3 miles in a few minutes. It’s miraculous! Even more miraculous is that a few of the ants were carrying, with ease, little nature debris bigger than their heads. Most of us already learned long ago in school that ants do this but watching it closely really amazed me. I can’t remember the last time I had watched ants for that long. Usually we only watch for this long when we are trying to find the source in our kitchen so we can ultimately squash the ant band.

Next time you see a line of marching ants, take a few moments to watch them closely. You may be amazed at the feats they can accomplish along with the mindfulness and relaxation it brings to yourself.