Take a Walk!
I went for a walk around my neighborhood. It takes me about an hour and a half. I get to do it, two or three times per week. The local scenery around our house, is pine tree covered mesas that tower about five hundred feet above the homes and golf courses. Most of the streets have well manicured desert landscaping. I have never seen a front lawn around any of the new homes.
I was strolling along and I became aware of being present in the moment. I noticed each breath, each time I swallowed, the beat of my heart, the sun on my skin. I felt at one with everything, I was grateful for the realization. It is the little things in life that I so appreciate. A bright yellow desert flower on a prickly pear cactus. A towering Sycamore tree swaying in the breeze. The gathering of huge white cumulonimbus clouds on the horizon. Soon they will bunch together and turn a dark grey. Then the breeze will pick up. Soon another monsoon storm will brew and give life to the sometimes parched land. It feels magical, like creation!
As I climbed a hill at the top of the neighborhood, I looked out and saw the magnificent red rocks. Huge stands of a multicolored backdrop of giant rocks that stand like guardian sentinels. They have been there for more than a billion years. What stories they could tell! About all of the folks who climbed them through the years. Each climber drenched in sweat and huffing and puffing to reach the top. Long ago, we may have been donned with feathers or covered in leather. Most likely though, we stopped and looked out across this part of the Verde Valley. We probably gave a silent prayer of thanks for being connected to this part of the Universe.
Now I could smell the scent of chaparral as the drops of rain began their dance. It was time to head home and enjoy the thunder and lightening from our front deck. We are all so blessed to be alive and feel with all of our senses. I encourage everyone who can, to go take a walk and experience nature and the grandeur of creation. It is a reflection of all the love in the universe dressed up in a rainbow of colors for us to enjoy. Happy walking! From my ever grateful heart to yours, Thomas