“Accustom yourself every morning to look out for a moment at the sky and suddenly you will be aware of the air around you, the scent of morning freshness that is bestowed on you between sleep and labor. You will find every day that the gable of every house has its own particular look, its own special lighting. Pay it some heed .(and0 you will have for the rest of the day a remnant of satisfaction and a touch of coexistence with nature. Gradually and without effort the eye trains itself to transmit small delights.“

~ Hermann Hesse

Hermann Karl Hesse (1877-1962) was a German-Swiss novelist, poet, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, largely on account of The Glass Bead Game, a timeless allegory about the ivory-tower mentality of societies devoted to a single intellectual cause.