So much meditation on a morning walk
I have morning walking fever. The moment I wake up the first thing I want to do is break out into the great wide open country and walk. You know, you can take the same walk every morning and it will be different. You can’t take the same walk twice. Every morning the little creatures have something else to teach me. Like this morning I walked by a flowering purple brush sage zipping with bees. They were working the buds so quickly i could not focus the camera fast enough to snap them. In the desert the bees teach you to do most of your important work in the coolness of the morning when you and the earth are most quick. Lesson one. Get rid of the most important or most straining work in the morning. You might not have energy or opportunity later in the afternoon.
One bee was so full of nectar his pollen bag strapped around his kneecaps looked like my laundry bag at the end of the week. He was so intent and focused on his work he didn’t even have time to feel afraid at my presence. Lesson 2. If you keep your full intention on the thing you are working on at hand you will not have time to feel anxious or overwhelmed.
A bit further on I heard the cactus wrench. It has such a deep guttural guffaw like it was laughing at its own joke Lesson 3. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Laugh out loud at your own stupidity.
Walking through the shrub brush I noticed a flash of white. What was that? It did not look like a bird or one of the strutting partridges. It forced me to change my path. There is was. A jackrabbit with a beady black eye and a silver coat. Lesson 4 follow your curiosity. It might lead you to make acquaintance with entities you have never seen before.
As I walked back into the path ouch! I felt a stinging under the arch of my right foot. I had to take off my sneaker. It was impossible to walk. I hobbled along until I found a place to look underneath my shoe. Son of a gun! Those burrs they have a way of inching through the thick rubber soles of your feet. In fact they hold a hairline curve shape that sneaks its way flat when you are walking and jams sideways through anything. Lesson 5. Never underestimate the stubborn sneakiness of unassuming beings that have a way of getting caught up into your business. It’s the small things that get you. While you are worrying about the distance and how to make it from point a to point b you don’t realize the little burr that messes up the entire operation. Lesson 6. Always invest in the best pair of shoes for life’s journey. Don’t skimp on the things essential for your mobility. Lesson 7. Be happy for the simple things you normally take for granted: the ability to walk, the ability to take enough breath to get you to the top of the hill.
The morning walks I take serve as walking meditations. Walking through a land as a guest you are forced to pay attention to the nuances of the landscape. As a guest you pay attention to the customs of your host as a way of not offending them. This is how I take my morning walk. Like a guest invited into the beautiful home of a host who has so graciously received me for a little while.
Every walk on the journey uncovers something else. This land that spurred waves of settlers looking for gold. So many died disappointed at not having found their nuggets of gold. But not me. I have found gold in every expedition. The nuggets of gold the land serves you are out to behold in plain sight. The gold is itself—the land brushed in golden sun at dawn in symphony of birdsong and the twitching of safe brush. The gold is the nuggets of wisdom it offers up every morning as you dig deeper into an understanding of yourself. Every morning I receive boundless lessons from this beautiful land that locks so much treasure. All you have to do is walk and look.
To discover the nuggets of wisdom buried deep in you through guided morning meditations join me on my nature walks. Walk your fingers here for more info.
