I’ve always been inspired by nature. Even if a nature scene doesn’t feature in what I’m writing on any given day, I still find my mind both calmed and awakened by a garden full of flowers, a shady path in a forest, a line of majestic mountains. 

Earlier in May of this year, I was inspired—and awed, amazed, stunned, impressed—by an unusual natural view. I—and much of the rest of the planet—witnessed an incredible aurora display, the result of one of the most powerful geomagnetic solar storms in the past twenty years. Many people at latitudes that normally don’t get to see aurora got to see the Northern and Southern Lights.