Feeling Sparkly, Today

What a day! Organic strawberries and bananas along with the magic green shake and a hike down to the beach in the rain. Feeling sparkly! Cannot imagine what my body would be like now if I had not begun the dietary changes, I did a few years ago. Looks like the weight is still coming off and there is another 40 to lose, however, looking back to 10 years ago, I am an amazing machine now. Every once in a while, I run across an old photo of myself and wince, then I realize the soul has changed and the experience, of all that weight, was for good reason. I now know what it is that makes people do, the things they do to their bodies, and how hard it is to make the changes. 

I used to hike mountains before the head-on car accident. I could hike along trails for hours, at end, and sit inside a tree stump, in snow, on sunny afternoons, sucking in vistas of unimaginable beauty. If there was a mountain or a hill, I needed to get to the top of it. Promised myself, that one day, I would be back there and someday I shall, however, for now, to be able to walk 3 miles and not feel pain in my hips, is a really fine day for me. I am heading up Mt. Rainier on the 27th, and hopefully, will be able to get up to around 9,000 feet or at least close to the John Muir cabin. The ice field will still be in place, however, I shall spend 6 hours walking and taking photos, along the way.

Swimming has helped a lot and,in my next house, there will be a pool or a swimming lane, since I think the amount of water placed into a pool is an exorbitant waste of natural resources. Swimming lanes save about 60% of the water used inside a pool, and yes, it will be solar heated, even if I am in California, Santa Fe or Hawaii.  I love to swim at night, under the moon.

I love swings, too. I love to swing. That feeling in my stomach, as I hit the high place, in the air, and stop, for that moment, before rushing back toward the earth, and up the other side of the sky, still shoots butterfly and laughter through me. I am going to have a perfect swing at the next place, suspended from some monstrous, strong tree, just for me. One thing that is going to happen, in the next year, is a trip to Costa Rica, so I can get into the tree tops and take that ride across the jungle tree tops. That would be a hoot, for sure. 

Today is a great day for me. I feel so good and grateful for the experiences I have had in my life. Everyone of them, whether a lesson or a magical development, was all mine and worth the ride.

Yes, I know we all have those events or do those things that make us shudder, as we look back, however from this vantage point, this moment, they were all worthy of the great lessons which brought me to an understanding, of myself and life, in all its manifestations. 

Some people live with regret and get no further, never reaching the joy. Awareness of mind and heart is the point to all experience, and I chose mine. To live in regret, denying my actions and keeping my eyes closed to the realities and reverberations of those actions, stops me from understanding the great joy of the wisdom they presented to me. I can say, without tremors, there are no regrets in my life. Accepting all of my actions and words, across my lifetime ,may not seem right, to some, especially those I wounded, however, the lesson is learned and hopefully, never to be repeated. 

To lie on my deathbed, and at the moment of transition, to have a thought arise of regret, is not the way I wish to go out. So, in my human way, I try to do my best with what I know now. That is all I can do because that is all I have now. More wisdom will come, as I share my heart, and walk into situations of which I am fearful of, knowing that if I do not walk through them, I run from my life.

There is a book, A Still Forest Pool, which lays out the meditations of Achaan Chan, the monk who founded Wat Ba Pong, in Northeast Thailand. He once said: "You will reach a point where the heart tells itself what to do." I think I am heading toward that point, and for all I know, may have already reached it. In any case, treat yourself well today. Go out for a walk, look into eyes of strangers and smile, and create something to share with others, then give it away.