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javacat I like this. It's from a greeting card, my sister's birthday card. "I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more." - John Burroughs. Huh, I'd never heard of him before, yet a quick google shows me that his books are My Kind of Books. I'll have to read some.
I used to led meditation hikes for the local group of the Sierra Club, and give basic meditation instruction, followed by hiking. When we'd take a break, I'd hand out a poem on the theme, that'd I'd print out on really nice paper. I had a series; everyone started with "Lost" and moved to the next one if/when they came to the next hike.
It's hard to turn off the chatter in my mind. I've been a mostly-off/partly-on meditator for years. There's a backpacking trip that stands out for being a five day, mumble-mile, really hard trek (for me) in King's Canyon. When it was all over, I barely remembered any of the trip because I was so lost in my own mind. I was mentally writing a kind of screenplay/movie, as I recall. It struck me as such a waste of my vacation. Other people have the talent and memory retention to remember and write that stuff down, but I don't. I went to a weekend workshop at Spirit Rock that included walking mediation and started working on being right there, in the moment, not letting the squirrel-wheel-mind-chatter keep me from being aware of where I am, now.
My enjoyment of being outdoors is huge when I bring myself back to my breath on a regular basis. It's harder now, I have lots of things to think about. But they're just thoughts - I'd rather be fully present than lost in those thoughts, rather notice that the buckeyes are dropping their fruit now, and that rain caused the grey outer skins to swell and split, revealing clean and glossy horse chestnuts inside.
I used to led meditation hikes for the local group of the Sierra Club, and give basic meditation instruction, followed by hiking. When we'd take a break, I'd hand out a poem on the theme, that'd I'd print out on really nice paper. I had a series; everyone started with "Lost" and moved to the next one if/when they came to the next hike.
It's hard to turn off the chatter in my mind. I've been a mostly-off/partly-on meditator for years. There's a backpacking trip that stands out for being a five day, mumble-mile, really hard trek (for me) in King's Canyon. When it was all over, I barely remembered any of the trip because I was so lost in my own mind. I was mentally writing a kind of screenplay/movie, as I recall. It struck me as such a waste of my vacation. Other people have the talent and memory retention to remember and write that stuff down, but I don't. I went to a weekend workshop at Spirit Rock that included walking mediation and started working on being right there, in the moment, not letting the squirrel-wheel-mind-chatter keep me from being aware of where I am, now.
My enjoyment of being outdoors is huge when I bring myself back to my breath on a regular basis. It's harder now, I have lots of things to think about. But they're just thoughts - I'd rather be fully present than lost in those thoughts, rather notice that the buckeyes are dropping their fruit now, and that rain caused the grey outer skins to swell and split, revealing clean and glossy horse chestnuts inside.