Tag Archives: Walk

Three Truths and One Wish

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1. Truth: You are enough and there is enough for you. Just as you are, you are basically good and wise, you are whole.  Even if you do nothing but breathe, you are worthy of love, space, belonging. You may suffer from poverty mentality, that deep belief that there will never be enough, that you have to cling to and hoard what you have, but it isn’t real.  There is enough, enough to share even.  There is no need to compare or compete.  Let go, give it all away.  Open your heart, give and receive, knowing that you are enough and there is enough.

Photo by Ganesha Balunsat

2. Truth: Gratitude brings joy, and when you are creative, you are happy. Andrea Scher on Superhero Journal posted today on her blog about gratitude, and said “I think practicing gratitude is one of the most powerful things we can do. It gives us power and joy.”  On Tiny Buddha, there’s also a recent post on gratitude’s connection to joy, “There’s More Right Than Wrong.”

I was thinking about this while I was walking the dogs this morning.  The facts of the morning were: I was tired and it was early, dark, and cold.  One way to experience that is to get grumpy, cranky, irritated, and hateful.  Another option is to recognize how utterly amazing it is to see the moon and stars, and then the sunrise, all in a single hour. To be aware of how the cold and movement wake me up, and how nice it is to be out alone in all that quiet and space. To understand how lucky I am that I can get up, that I can move, that I have these two amazing dogs that want to go with me, who will protect me from anything out there that might be scary, (all there was this morning was a fox and an owl, so nothing too bad).

And there’s the happiness that comes from creating, any active process in which you give of yourself, your love or wisdom or kindness.  That act of offering, the action and attention, returns to you as much as you ever give away. It feeds the deepest, hungriest part of you.

Photo by Mara

3. Truth: Right now, in this moment, there is no problem, everything is okay.  Ask yourself, in this moment, right now: is there a problem? I guarantee that anything you can come up with isn’t about this moment, but rather is attached to the past or the future–I have tried this many times, and I can never come up with any problem that is attached to right now that I don’t know exactly how to handle, to render it “no problem.” Everything else is completely workable. In Eckhart Tolle’s book “The Power of Now” he says “To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need of past for your identity and future for your fulfillment.”

Photo by On Being

  • Wish: I wish that we could all internalize and manifest these truths. That we would understand joy and experience happiness in this present moment, now. “Decide today that you are enough, even if you never do anything, accomplish anything or produce anything ever again. You are enough.”

  • Your turn.  Make a wish.

Tuesday Three Truths and One Wish

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  • Truth: My dogs get at least two hours of exercise a day. The primary way we provide this for them is walking, once in the morning and again in the afternoon.  As a working breed dog not quite two years old, Sam needs two walks and 2-3 play sessions in the backyard per day.  At 8.5 years old, Dexter doesn’t so much need both walks as love them.  It’s not just good for them but for us too. The physical exercise is good, but so is what a walk does for the mind.  I move, breathe, get out of my own head, but also go deeper into my own heart.

For example, when I wrote first thing this morning, I had no idea what my three truths and one wish for today would be.  I couldn’t think of anything.  I could think of one truth, or one wish, but that’s as far as I could get.  Then, I went on the morning walk, and this post became clear to me, the ideas and phrases building with each step.

  • Truth: Walking so early in the morning means we see things you wouldn’t if you waited. This morning, we saw two eyes lit up by my headlamp–could have been a fox, raccoon, skunk, or a cat, but all we saw were its eyes.  Then we saw a herd of 10-15 Mule Deer, standing still and quiet in the dark.  Then we heard the squawk of a Gray Owl, and saw it sitting on the branch over our heads, bobbing its head in warning and screeching at us.  When it flew away, to our right, we heard an answering “whoo, whoo” and turned to see two owls fly off together.  Then there was one of the beavers smacking its tail.  We started our walk under the stars and new moon, and by the end, we were watching the sun rise.

There are a few mornings a year when I grouch and grumble about a walk, usually because of especially nasty weather plus my nasty mood, but mostly, I am grateful.  The walk is usually one of my favorite parts of the day, (and if they could write, the boys would offer their agreement here).

  • Truth: A walk is one of the best ways to bond. This is true if you are talking about walking with dogs or people, or even about walking alone.  Moving forward in the same direction, dwelling in a moment, being together in a particular time and space binds you, connects you, you to them or you to yourself.  It’s an opportunity to be united, awake and alive in the world.  You never know what will happen, who or what you will see on a walk, and even as they might be alike, each walk is new and different.

  • Wish: That sometime soon, you can find a partner, or the place and time for a walk. “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely / the world offers itself to your imagination / calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting / over and over announcing your place / in the family of things.” ~~From “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

  • What are you waiting for?  Where will you go? When?  Why not now?