We two humans met and Rachel asked fairly quickly if I walked every day. Her tone suggested she might think me odd but that was okay. I heard myself respond with an enthusiastic "Yes" which was followed by "I do this to survive." I shared that I loved walking because I need sunshine and nature and I love being outside.
We parted. As I walked on I realized my walks are about survival but they're really about much more than survival. In the recent years walking and being outside even in the cold is how I thrive.
I am fed by Nature's beauty, the blue sky as well as the clouds. My spirit is fed by patterns above in the barren tree limbs and below in the leaves on the ground. My heart is fed by the birds singing, by neighbors and strangers I pass and I am drawn to things along my path offering messages when I listen.
For example, today only a few steps past meeting Rachel I found a dried piece of ornamental grass lying in the middle of the sidewalk. It just felt right to pick it up as "Bread of Life" crossed my mind. A few steps further a dove feather, symbol of great Love and Peace, lay before me. After picking it up I realized it's structure or patterning was similar to the grass. A few houses away I came upon a yard filled with these leaves having fallen recently.
I was reminded immediately of the Tree of Life then noticed it too had a pattern similar to the grass and feather, many arms reaching from a body stationed between heaven and earth.
Then I came upon the blue dental flosser.
Near my turn, there it lay. It had been there yesterday as well. At first I picked it up because I'm prone to gathering trash on my walks.
This time though I walked with these things and pondered the manmade and Nature-made.
I considered how flossers are used to get at hard-to-reach gunk between one's teeth which are in the mouth, the vehicle of voice. Maybe we need an instrument for getting to the hard-to-reach "stuff," the fears and issues old and new, the things affecting our voice so when we speak we speak with more love and less judgment, arrogance and hate (that includes more loving self-talk as well).
We come to Earth equipped with the instruments for clearing this stuff. It's found in an open mind. It is found in compassion's vibes radiating from the heart. It is found in our arms extended from our bodies and wrapped around our fellow man as well as wrapped around ourselves. We come here equipped with all that's needed to clear out the stuff that builds up without and within.
Then as I continued my walk home this prayer came to me.
Bread of Life
Help me/us fly
and take my/our place
on the Tree of Life.
Bread of Life
Help me/us sing
and reveal the Love
that is in All Things.
We are each "walking home" in a sense. I share this prayer with you in hopes that it will make your daily "walk home" a bit lighter. I share this experience in hopes that you'll be increasingly mindful of how your spirit and soul are fed and the messages surrounding you in the man-made and Nature-made daily.
-Dawn, The Good News Muse 18 November 2014
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