I was sitting outside the other morning and noticed an earthworm a few feet in front of me on the concrete. After just a few "strides" of inching its body along, it began to struggle, turning over and over in place, presumably from its front to its back (hard to tell which is which on an earthworm), making no further forward progress. It came to my attention that it had been traveling away from instead of toward the closest patch of dirt, which was just a narrow space between the edge of the concrete and some decorative brick.

I thought to intervene, but then decided to wait and watch just a bit longer to see what would happen naturally. It stopped moving altogether for about thirty seconds and then, miraculously started moving in the opposite direction...toward the dirt, which is its home and natural habitat; where it gets the nourishment it needs to survive.

I found myself silently cheering it on, "Go little earthworm! Go! Find what you need to survive. Go back to the place where you are fed."

I thought all was well when it reached the narrow little patch of dirt, but then, suddenly, it began trying to climb vertically up the side of the decorative brick. It would make it about halfway up, and then fall back down. But it kept trying and trying. The inner dialogue in my head now was, "Why are you trying so hard to be somewhere you don't belong; somewhere there is no food for you and where the hot sun will burn you, dry you out and destroy you?"

Finally, it realized there was nothing for it up on top of that little brick wall, and started to burrow deep into the dirt. At last, I could stop worrying about what would happen to it and return inside!

The lesson of the earthworm is this: So often we find ourselves in places where we don't belong, where we are not receiving what we need to evolve and grow. We are like the earthworm, going in the wrong direction and then stalling out completely, just twisting and turning over and over, going nowhere. The first thing that needs to happen is getting ourselves turned around and traveling in the right direction - toward the people and places where personal growth can occur and where we can be spiritually fed.

Secondly, even when we reach that place, sometimes we are still lured by the pull of being somewhere else or we come up against obstacles that make us feel like we are climbing straight up a wall. At this point, many times we don't need to be going up, but down...looking within ourselves, to the deepest part of our foundation to see what parts of it need to be fixed or adjusted before we can continue our journey. We can learn all sorts of things from observing nature. Learn the lesson of the earthworm and don't stop until you find that patch of dirt where you can thrive!