Hey guys!
I did it. I packed the backpack and started walking.
I made it about ten steps before sitting down on a bench with a view to write to you.
It’s morning, so there’s no sunset yet. If there was you couldn’t tell cuz the sky is covered in grey.
I imagined wearing a cotton-thin sundress and a bag as light as a feather as I looked out into the horizon.
In real-life I have layers and layers on and thick woolen socks. I have gloves on to give my hands some relief from the chill. And of course have packed way too much stuff for this day trip.
My impulse was to fly over to France or Spain and walk in the sun, in the dry, in the heat.
I danced with my fears about point-to-point walking for the first time on my own, in a different country, on a budget, and landed in the Lake District instead. Where of course the forecast is rain.
My fears followed me into my backpack. Lunch for two, water for many, a bite-and-sting kit, pepper spray, a whistle, just in case. The essentials to provide for and protect myself. That’s what the books say to carry anyway.
And I also don’t want to carry the weight of them. The weight of the ‘what if?’.
So I’m gonna start walking. And see if I can drop the weight.
I’ll hold onto the whistle. Maybe the pepper spray. Probably the bite-and-sting kit. Definitely the lunch and agua.
But maybe with each step I can drop the worry. The constant planning 5 steps ahead. The fear it won’t turn out OK.
Maybe with each step my body can rest just a little bit more. Lean into the ground beneath me. The tree to the side of me. The signs that I am truly and deeply supported in life.
Like the guy who filled the oil up in my car yesterday for a fiver. Twelve liters of oil. For £5. True story.
To relax into each moment. Each step a little less effort than the one before. That’s how I want to be walking.
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Change of Plans
If you were planning to join the monthly community gathering today, it will not be happening. On-line anyway.
I’ll be on a mountain, so instead, wherever you are, we can practice resting into our movement together.
See if you can notice how your body feels while you’re walking, cleaning, typing, driving.
Is your body tight? Tense? Holding?
Open, spacious, settled?
Can you let whatever is be? And just breathe?
Breathe into the moment, into your body, and see where it takes you.
Have fun and catch you soon.