I recently took a course on mindfulness meditation and deepened my understanding of mindfulness and how to practice being more present in the present. (oooo I said "present" 2x!!) Focus. Right!!
I live in suburbia (how did that happen? Le sigh...) I have access to Green Timbers Urban Forest
Green Timbers Urban Forest | City of Surrey which is a 5-10 min drive from where I live. Monty and I have been going there pretty steady for a week now. It is gorgeous and not too busy with other humans yet. It's still pretty rainy here but we like the rain!! And I like the solitude!!
Monty loves it. So many smells. Bounce bounce bounce!! He is getting really good at hurtling top speed and stopping or at least slowing before he reaches the end of the the 26' leash. He definitely gets good exercise and mental stimulation on these walks.
When I started learning his language and becoming more familiar with his world, I would run up to a lot of different things he found fascinating, bend over and exclaim "what is it? What did you find? is it yummy?" and I would pet him and touch whatever he was sniffing as my way of sharing his excitement. I did have a thought at one point about what other people would think and then thought. shrug... perhaps the message that there is more to this world than we experience comes through.
We were on a walk the other day. I was in my head. It's busy in there sometimes lol. Very busy. I was all caught up with worry and fortune telling and making movies that I was missing the healing purposes of these walks and missing out on the cuteness that is Monty.
As soon as I caught it I stopped walking and took a breath and looked around. Monty found a prickle vine and was all busy trying to figure out how to pee on it without pricking his lil prick. Hahaha it was so comical.
And then I looked around and took in the fading daylight - it was moving into dusk. Took a nice cleansing breath and closed my eyes to the heavens as I did feeling the stress flow down my body to the ground. I opened my eyes and looked across the tiny lake and there was an eagle soaring lazily in the sky! I had never seen an eagle in this part of suburbia! I was shocked and so very pleased. I watched as he landed in a tree on the other side of that lake. Had I not stopped and cleared my mind, I would have missed it.
I thank my Monty for the gift of "forced" practice mindfulness. I look forward to my walks with him each day. I love that I am slowly gaining skill in learning how to let my mind relax and empty for a moment and experience the wonder of being a spirit having a human experience.
It helps me remember what is important.
Think I am going to go walking there now .... Pfft to the housework stuff I am currently doing. Nod nod