The Life-Changing Writing Advice We Can Learn from Moss
For anyone who wants a sustainable and flourishing writing life
It was hour 32 of a 44 hour cross-country road trip and my husband and I were listening to yet another podcast. I leaned my head against the passenger window and watched the Illinois farmland whizz by.
I was roused from my stupor when the guest, Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass) started describing how mosses have figured out how to live well on Earth. She said:
“An example of what I mean by this is in their simplicity, in the power of being small. Mosses become so successful all over the world because they live in these tiny little layers, on rocks, on logs, and on trees. They work with the natural forces that lie over every little surface of the world, and to me they are exemplars not only of surviving, but flourishing, by working with natural processes. Mosses are superb teachers about living within your means.”
She went on to say that what she admires about mosses is: “…their ability to cooperate with one another, to share the limited resources that they have, to really give more than they take. Mosses build soil, they purify water. They are like the coral of the forest (…) They are just engines of biodiversity. They do all these things, and yet…
