In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Chapter I. Nature,” he gives himself the title of the “transparent eyeball” (556). I think that in that moment, Emerson is engrossed in the calm beauty of the natural world around him. Instead of taking in complex details as many other adults do, he looks for the simplicity. When experiencing this beautiful serenity built by God by himself, he realizes his current emotions are more powerful and meaningful than anything he could feel in the world built by man kind. By sitting in the wilderness and basking in the beauty as the “transparent eyeball,” he does not have to put any effort into creating his own happiness because nature has do that for him.

What I found most intriguing about the passage is that it made me realize that the simplest of things can mean so much. We are all surrounded by new inventions and technology every day that we hardly ever see anything for what it truly is. Our buildings on campus hold the spots where beautiful trees and animals once resided before we came along and removed them. Now if we are given the chance to see an area of true nature, especially near such a large city, we should have more appreciation for it instead of writing it off as wasted space.

Before moving to college, I lived in Savannah, Georgia for all of my life. We lived in a beautiful neighborhood that only had maybe 20 houses total. Within the neighborhood there were tons of trails to ride our golf carts on through the woods, down our airstrip (we had a private landing strip for our neighbors’ private planes) and next to all of the lakes surrounding our houses. When I was in elementary and middle school, I would wake up almost every Saturday morning and ride the golf cart through the trails, just to enjoy the beautiful views. Everywhere I drove had a uniqueness and calmness that could not be matched. Sometimes I would stop and sit while the sun shown and the wind blew around me. I loved it when I was a kid and still occasionally ride around like that when I am home visiting for either the weekend or holiday breaks.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.