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This morning I feel invited to feel
Immediately I imagine cool green grass beneath my bare feet on a summer day.
As I become present to my surroundings on the trail, I have a sense of the sacred, like I am on holy ground this morning.
In the stillness. In the bird song. In the newborn buds on the trees that are starting to emerge from their cold winter slumber.
The air is a wonderful cool temperature against the exposed skin of my hands and face.
I am trying to feel it all, see it, hear it, allow that to enter my body.
To just be with it, the feelings, and not analyze or evaluate.
I’m not trying to get something from it. I’m just here as an observer.
I am here now.
Mountain mist. Oh, mountain mist.
Bird song, welcome back.
Babbling brooks, you cleanse my soul and wash away the sounds of traffic and industry.
To my acquaintances on the trail, thank you for your smiles and your hello’s.
I look forward to seeing you and miss you when I haven't seen you in a while.
I am "at home” out here. That's a feeling too. I don’t want it to end.
There’s that voice in my head saying that this is selfish. Is it?
Or is this Mary at her savior's feet doing the one thing that we are all called to do at times?
Be, be, be. The call to just be suddenly becomes strong. It often is on this part of the trail.
Note to self: Practice being with your senses.
Be open to your environment and feel it.
Hear it. See it. Smell it.
Let the unforced rhythms of nature enter in.
As I wrap up my walk, thoughts of my workday surface with a bit of dread
and then I am reminded that I am called to “this“
and I remind myself that "this" is awareness, presence, and delight.
I intend to return to “this“ throughout the day.
Perhaps that will relieve my dread and help me to
simply do the work that I have graciously been given to do.
May you and I have the freedom to feel and let it enter in.
~ Rod
More http://www.stillwatermagazine.com/walks-and-thoughts
The meditation I created is called Experiencing Oneness in a Divided World. In it, we explore a deep and comforting truth: that everything is connected.
As I venture out this morning, I'm thinking about the Mary Oliver poem, wild Geese, where she says, “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
I just want to bow 🙇♂️ in gratitude (also laugh because there’s a 🙇 bowing emoji)
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Our daughter Jess gifted me with a poem today. She says... Wrapping up my last few days on the coast for now… it’s been so amazing to get so much “normal” time with my family, and one of my favorite things is morning walks with dad. His practice of noticing and of being quiet enough in spirit to notice the minute details is always a gift.
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I am contemplating emptiness this morning which I know sends cautionary shivers down the spines of some Christians. I was warned about this by a "well-meaning" Christian on the weekend when I used the word emptiness at a retreat I was co-leading.
snowy days (meditation) Hints of Gladness
Are sounds like this (birdsong, babbling brooks) meant to touch our souls? I think they are.