I am thankful even during these times of shelter-in-place, lockdown, circuit breaker, and self isolation that I am still able to go for walks. Keeping 6 feet away from other people is still being outside, under the sun, feeling the wind on my face, breathing in fresh air.
I cannot imagine staying indoors for a month, months, or however long some people have had to do, or continuing as the world shuts down. Especially now that Spring is here, and the air is warming up. Soon, I’ll be able to dip my toes in the Pacific ocean.
It is indeed strange times.
All plans out the window.
A few were in the ethers, to be solidified – a few days at Lake Tahoe, a road trip to Mt Shasta then down to LA, where I was going to a Jin Shin Jyutsu class, a work-related retreat in Brazil…. completely dissolved with what we have been calling a pandemic. And now I have a huge United Air credit to be used in the next couple of years. Applying for a refund was just so confusing and not user-friendly. I’m sure like many people, I’ll be jetting out to some destination as soon as these travel bans slacken. Slacken, because who knows when they will be lifted completely!
We are all wondering what the new normal will look like. I’ve been thinking what I want that to be. We have the chance to break down the structures, beliefs, patterns, and habits of the old and to anchor what we truly desire, from love and truth.
The other night, I watched the movie Outbreak. I don’t remember it when it first came out though I am pretty positive I had watched it. At that time, I watched everything. Was that the first pandemic movie of my generation? They were planting seeds long before we realized. If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember it, check it out.
Close to where I am is a park that is now closed to vehicular traffic. We are still allowed inside and it’s a large state park that has many trails, some leading to beaches below, others to lookout points above. Benches along the way to sit quietly, to listen to the birds, the surf, and my own heartbeat. Over the last few weeks, more signs of spring appeared with the blossoming of new flowers, and brown turning green with renewal.
We have been taking walks through the forests, onto rock outcroppings, down trails. Sometimes we’d climb up and sit looking out to sea, watching the waves. To me, they are just pretty and calming. To him, as a surfer, the sea and the waves have a whole different meaning. Spiritual. It’s a calling. It’s something he’s missing. For now. He’d point out how the waves come in, the sandbars that form elsewhere along the Pacific coast. He’s a mystic and a storyteller. He is also private and a hermit.
So we continue taking our daytime, twilight, and night walks, to get outside, to breathe with Mother Earth. This is the time to reconnect, to get grounded with what’s real, or as real as this illusory existence allows. To get anchored within, to navigate the coming months and beyond.
