What’s Essential? Nordic Naturals Wants to Know

On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

What is essential to your life?

Beyond the obvious: food, shelter, air to breathe. Companionship. What could you not go without?

For me, it is the quiet moments with my kids, especially out in nature and in our home. Places that nourish and join our spirits beyond our blood ties.

These are the times that they will carry within them forever. They will remember the silly, loud, boisterous times too, to be sure. But when one day I am gone, it will be the times that they are quiet and the voices inside them are still, that they will feel how I am forever a part of them.

I know this because I experience it. I sit in an open field or an empty room and I remember what it felt like to have my father sitting next to me, reading or just being, silent but there. Comforting.

In a rushing, busy, saturated world, I think silence is the most essential gift we can give to our children. Not all the time. Treasured sometimes.

I treasure the time we spend sitting at the creek or lying down in the yard or lolling about on a Sunday afternoon, doing absolutely nothing.

I treasure the moments I spend standing at their doors, after pulling their blankets up to keep them warm, one last time before I go to bed.

I treasure the fact that they leave silly pictures of themselves on my phone, knowing full well I’m going to post them on the internet.

I treasure and document these moments, knowing they are fleeting. They grow up faster every day.

These are the times that my heart shouts out, you are mine. You are wonderful. You are beautiful. You are safe. You are loved.

I say it silently, into the stillness, and yet I know they hear me.

That which is essential is invisible to the eye.

That which is said silently is heard by the heart.

This post was inspired by my entry into the Nordic Naturals® What’s Essential™ Contest (as always, brevity is not my strong point).

Let Nordic Naturals® know what’s essential to you in 200 words or less: One Grand Prize Winner will receive a trip for two to Santa Cruz CA, including airfare, car rental, hotel, spending money, Nordic Naturals award winning omegas and more. Six Second Prize winners will receive a Canon® Vixia HF M400 camcorder and a one-year supply of Nordic Naturals award winning omegas. Twelve Third Prize winners will receive a one-year supply of Nordic Naturals award winning omegas.*

To enter, submit your What’s Essential story and accompanying image on Facebook or on whatsessential.com. Good luck!