Some kind of relaxed and beautiful thing/ kept flickering in with the tide/ and looking around./ Black as a fisherman’s boot,/ with a white belly.// If you asked for a picture I would have to draw a smile/ under the perfectly round eyes and above the chin,/ which was rough/ as a thousand sharpened nails.// And you know/ what a smile means,/ don’t you?// I wanted/ the past to go away, I wanted/ to leave it, like another country; I wanted/ my life to close, and open/ like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song/ where it falls/ down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery;/ I wanted/ to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know,/ whoever I was, I was/ alive/ for a little while.// It was evening, and no longer summer./ Three small fish, I don’t know what they were,/ huddled in the highest ripples/ as it came swimming in again, effortless, the whole body/ one gesture, one black sleeve/ that could fit easily around/ the bodies of three small fish.// Also I wanted/ to be able to love. And we all know/ how that one goes,/ don’t we?/ Slowly// the dogfish tore open the soft basins of water.// You don’t want to hear the story/ of my life, and anyway/ I don’t want to tell it, I want to listen/ to the enormous waterfalls of the sun.// And anyway it’s the same old story – – –/ a few people just trying,/ one way or another,/ to survive.// Mostly, I want to be kind./ And nobody, of course, is kind,/ or mean,/ for a simple reason.// And nobody gets out of it, having to/ swim through the fires to stay in/ this/ world.// And look! look! look! I think those little fish/ better wake up and dash themselves away/ from the hopeless future that is/ bulging toward them.// And probably,/ if they don’t waste time/ looking for an easier world,/ they can do it.

Mary Oliver

“Mostly, I want to be kind. And nobody, of course, is kind, or mean, for a simple reason. And nobody gets out of it, having to swim through the fires to stay in this world.”

Swimming through fires escaping the big fish — the essence of surviving. Its seems like thriving is a bit more than that, and I want to thrive. Thriving does not mean we don’t swim through fires. Thriving does not mean the big fish don’t chase us sometimes. Thriving does not mean we are always kind or mean — one size does not fit all.

Suppose if thriving meant simply swimming. Swimming through both fires and calm waters, not wasting time trying to just find the easier world. Swimming because we want to see listen to the enormous waterfalls of the sun. Swimming because to all want to love and be loved.