Finding the Moments

I wrote the first draft of this last year, just after Parisians were blown to bits in a nightclub.

I took the same hike again this morning.  It was the first moment of peace I've had all week.

The world is going to hell in a hand basket, and I'm feeling quite powerless, I wrote a year ago this week.  I was feeling the same emptiness this week, unable to put my angst into meaningful action right now.  I was on a merry-go-round, repeating my fears over and over and over in my head.

It was not a good place to be.  My body told me so - I was lurching instead of walking, hunched over and back in my self-protective crouch.  I needed a fix, and Bag It! provided all the fixin's.  I could do a good deed, give back in a tangible way, and soothe my soul at the same time.

And so, with Mary, my Yogi, leading the way,  I joined a Meditative Hike this morning.

I strode up these steps with attitude.

I did not use the handrail.

I put each foot down, carefully, slowly, heel - ball- toe, meditatively moving my self onward and upward.

This year the sun was shining.

This year, I didn't need hiking poles.

This year, I could concentrate on making each step the best that it could be.  There was a lesson there, and I paid attention.

The stones were broad and well secured.

Some tiers took two steps; some were manageable with one long stride.

I was conscious of my entire self moving along, 

rather than concentrating on the individual pieces. 

Those pieces were moving in synchrony, without my help.

(This last section was last year's epiphany - my body will move as one, if I allow it to relax and do the work.  This year, I'm stronger and faster and more secure, and less surprised at the congruence.)

The waterfall was our reward.

 We sat on the stone benches and listened to one another, and to the water, and to the little girl's squeals of glee as she ran up to and then away from the pond at the bottom. It was a moment in time, with the sun shining on our faces and brightening our souls.  

Bag It! is all about living the life.  The choices may not be exactly what you want, or what you imagined.  They may be terrifying.  But with information and organization and support you can live the life you've got, one amazing moment at a time.

Until the world manages to right itself once more, there are always hugs.... from friends and from the trees around us.

It wasn't much.

But it was something.

Our little corner of the world held peace and promise this morning.