“Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life. This life in the present.”
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
On this fall day, the first of October in the high desert southwest, I’m wondering how many more of these just-the-right-temperature days for a late-morning walk remain before winter sets in.
How many more spectacular sunsets from mountain peaks can I enjoy in my favorite T-shirt and jeans, no jacket required?
Winter is still traveling the turnpike and won’t reach my neighborhood’s exit for several weeks. It’s likely still a distance from where you live, too.
So while there’s still time to do so unhurriedly and without bundling up for warmth, what natural landmark or local place of interest have you been meaning to visit?
On this fall day…
… I find only one appointment on my calendar.
But once it’s over, I go for a walk.
I take each step freely, lightly, confidently, and without an agenda.
I’m fully present in the now. No one pushes or demands anything of me. If anything draws me forward, it is only my good expectations for the future.
Have you paused to notice that you’ve entered a new season?
And, if so, are you welcoming it as an opportunity to jones on all things close-to-home and book nook that the gradually shorter days and longer nights will make available?
Here I go; just one of the neighbors on the path: legs moving and arms swinging past sage bushes and blue-purple wildflowers, eyes spotting the darting roadrunner looking for lunch, a tiny ant carrying a large leaf back to the colony homestead, a young gray cottontail standing as if frozen as I stride by, pretending it’s invisible.
Mama Cottontail taught her baby well.
Soon, human parents with their tiny trick-or-treaters will come ringing.
And – less than a month later – another weeklong whirlwind of travel, baking, cooking, eating, belly-laughing, and making new memories with friends and family will begin.
But today, on this autumn walk, I celebrate my slowness, and it feels good.
Worth considering now: What favorite thing will you do to celebrate this season as soon as time permits?
