3 Reminders of a Good Life gained from my morning walk
Have you ever gotten so busy that you feel you don’t even have time for a 10 minute walk? So often I get an anxious mind and feel like I need to start to “do” right away without taking time to do things that I know are good for me and will actually help me be happier and more productive, yet calm.
This morning was no exception. It’s a Monday morning in early December in Northern Minnesota. Which means it is cold. The kids all went on the bus and the baby just went down for a morning nap and I’m ready to start tackling my to-do list, as it is one of my days at home today. My husband looked at me and asked if I’d looked outside to see the frost, yet. Admittedly, I hadn’t! What a reminder!
So, I took his gentle direction and looked outside, and found an almost ethereal sight. It is a peaceful and beautiful winter morning here, with the foggy air, overcast skies making everything cozy and calm. Additionally the trees, grasses, and all hard surfaces are coated in prickly frost, from the existing moisture that crystallized overnight. It is almost mystical.
I immediately decided to delay my morning coffee and to-do list and put on my warm winter boots, and gear and headed out to take advantage of this time while I didn’t have to take care of kids under foot or be scurrying off to work, and headed outdoors.
As I breathed in the wintery air, and looked around, I felt drawn into a whole new world right outside my home. Ann, our little springer spaniel, gingerly ran by my side and started walking down the driveway.
Of course, nature is always the best source of inspiration for me and my mind became immersed in my surroundings and little lightbulbs started going off, like gentle nudges, reminding me of important life teachings to live more joyfully. Here’s a few lessons from my little walk down the driveway:
- Don’t get too focused on the ground. Walking on a wintery road in Minnesota, means 1 thing: could be slippery. And while we do have packed snow, and patches of ice, there’s also plenty of gravel showing and traction. As I walked, I found myself looking at the ground and thinking of events that had happened the previous day, week and replaying in my head. (some not so pleasant). As I realized what I was dong, I thought to myself “Don’t focus on those things!” It doesn’t pay! Don’t just stare at the ground, walk forward in faith, trust, hope, JOY! What blessings I have been given, and today is a new day and I don’t need to stare at the ground when their is so much beauty and goodness around. DOn’t stay focused there. What you focus on will grow, for better or for worse. And while we need to focus on the present and taking the next right step, we cannot just stare at the ground. We need to lift our eyes and gaze forward to focus not on annoyances, but on all the good things in our life, and all the ways we have been blessed. And focus forward with hope, with what we can control. Focus on the good, more good will follow!
- Look up for perspective. As I stopped starting at the ground, I kept walking but looked up and saw the tree trunks, the nests in the branches, finally the tops of the trees and the overcast skies. It is perfectly ok that there’s no bright sun today, as I am appreciating the soft light. What a different feeling it is to look up and expand beyond our immediate worries, and instead see the sky of hope and possibility. And recent things you feel irritated/anxious about can fade as your focus upward and realize that chances are, your current worries are fairly trivial in comparison to the bigger perspectives of life and living a good life and having more peace, joy and purpose in your life, starts with changing your perspective, and choosing to focusing forwards and upwards.
- Stop to smell the roses (look at the frost!) What each new day brings new challenges, but also new joys and new learning as well! God sends different weather and different situations every day, and it’s up to us to choose to look for them. He is ever present in our lives, if we just stop to look, to feel, to notice. Along my driveway walk, I stopped to really look closely at the frosted pine needles and really notice how cool it looks to have water that transformed overnight into tiny razor-like icicles that coat each leaf, each needle, each surface. So pretty. So utterly beautiful. Look closely what artwork Mother Nature can bring us each day! It’s easy to simply focus on our work at hand, but be sure to pause, to take some moments to be still and look at something in nature, something God has made and we will feel uplifted.
So, my dear friend, as I am wondering along this life journey as well, I hope you can also find these reminders helpful. May you not get too engrossed in the ground, but remember to look up, to look past the daily “drudgery” and get some perspective so you don’t feel bogged down by the small things in life, but focus on the virtues surrounding you as you gaze forwards and upwards, while still being grounded, trusting your walk. God will continue to guide you ever so gently, so make room for Him to to notice all the little gifts and treasures. The more we look for them the more we notice and the more He seems to provide. Here’s to Peace, Joy & Purpose!