Something to Do While Walking

Walking is its own reward.  Through my walking over the last year I believe I've become more observant and less critical.  I've embraced the concept that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.  I have a much better idea what people living on the street have to face, and I've gained a higher level of empathy for their circumstances.  I've learned to appreciate finding a bathroom, a cool drink, and the little chemical hand warming pouches.  I've gotten to see things that I never imagined even existed in the neighborhood where I live and where I work.  I've been accidentally caught up in a Mardi Gras parade.

One of the more beneficial aspects of walking is that I've found extra time that I never knew existed.  I'm not quite sure what I was doing with this time before...probably watching television or something equally unproductive.  Having this gift of time gives me the space to create something to do while walking.  Some of this time...actually quite a lot of it, I've spent talking to Rory Conlan.  I've spent a fair amount of time on the phone with other people.  I've listened to some music, and recently, I've been listening to the extensive library of TED Talks.

Street Art Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe in Annapolis, MD

Today, I was listening to a talk by Louie Schwartzberg titled "Nature. Beauty. Gratitude." given at a TEDx conference in San Francisco, CA.  Mr. Schwartzberg is a nature photographer who specializes in taking time-lapse photos nature, but that's not really captured my attention. What really grabbed me was the gist of a project that he was working on in 2011 that dealt with the gratitude of living in the moments that make up a single day.  One of the narrators pointed out the unique nature of every moment. That when we open our eyes, hearts, and minds there are endless things that enrich our lives and make mindfulness of gratitude an easy and natural state of mind.

My shadow on the trail...feeling grateful

To open my eyes and observe is to break the bonds of generalization.  Weather becomes what's happening in the moment rather than something to be clinically described by a weather predictor on the television.  The currents in the air, the moisture or dryness, the clouds in the sky that show apparently endless variation, or the nature of a particular rain.  They're always different and always interesting. This talk I was listening to reaffirmed the sense of wonder that's come back into my life since I hit the trail a little over a year ago.

A Water Tower and the Sky - Annapolis, MD

Observing the day like it is the first I've ever seen and the last I may ever see is the sense of wonder that I relearned while out on the trail. Looking back, I'm not sure when that lesson began to sink in and I began to recapture that sense of wonder we're all naturally born with, but somehow, seems to fade with the intervening years.  By recapturing the wonder of life, the gratitude for the gift of the experience seems to naturally rush back into my consciousness, and a sense of contentment and happiness follows closely in its wake.

It was another great day, and I hope for the privilege of another tomorrow.

Wrapping up the Week

It's been a pretty long and tiring week.  It's the good kind of tiring, and not exhaustion.  I'll keep this short and let some photos speak for themselves.

Early Morning, USS Barry

My morning string of panoramas was broken this morning when Google delivered this stylized photo.  It's not my favorite, but it's at least interesting.

US Capitol Building

I'm not quite sure what the person in the foreground of the photo is doing, but since it was the afternoon, this is a pretty rare shot with people.

USS Barry in the afternoon

Not to be denied, I got the panorama I was looking for this morning just a little bit later.

It's been a great day to wrap up a great week.

Wednesday Gratitude Week 1

During my brief meditation practice this evening, the thought crossed my mind of a number of things that I am truly grateful for having crossed my path.  The practice of documenting gratitude has been suggested to me in the past, and to date I have managed to skirt that recommendation.  My reasons for skirting that recommendation are not very defensible, so tonight I'll embark on what I plan to make a weekly habit on Wednesdays of documenting things that I am grateful for experiencing.

Anacostia River just before Sunrise

I am grateful that no one is reading this journal because it saves me from having to explain the reasons for including a photo of the same scene day after day. The reasons are multifaceted, but it all boils down to the feeling that it something that I should be doing right now without really knowing why that particular idea has stuck with me.

I'm grateful that the idea of walking long(ish) distances that developed about four years ago was eventually translated into action. The rationalization for that action at the time was to convince myself that what I was thinking about was not a very good idea. The thinking was a compulsion. The action has turned into one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to date.

I'm grateful for my relationship with Rory Conlan.  I wish at times he'd take a more active role in documenting our shared journey over the last several years, but I know he has his own reasons for delaying that action and I have faith that his participation in this shared journey is unfolding just as it should be unfolding.

I'm grateful for second (and third and fourth chances) of trying to get the complications of truly living down correctly. I have been fortunate enough to have been born into a very setback tolerant culture where taking risk is actually encouraged more than it's punished.  I've come to believe this is one of the true "secrets" to achieving what externally looks like success in this society. It also is an enabler of true success that may or may not align with the commonly accepted definition.

Capitol Building with Freedom being loosed from her scaffolding confinement

I'm grateful that I can stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before me.  Those bold men and women forged the great cities, states, counties, and country out of a vast and imposing wilderness and have facilitated my access to wealth and knowledge and opportunity that was beyond the wildest imagination they might have had when they built the framework from which this bounty flowed forth.

It's another great day, and I'm grateful to have lived it.