A Mini Winter Adventure

Can I get you to postpone your current agenda for just 15 minutes as I invite you to go on a brief date with yourself, outdoors, right now? I know it may be cold and dreary, maybe even wet, but can I possibly convince you to go anyways? Or maybe there is a beckoning ray of sun that is making my task of convincing you easier.

Regardless, the instructions are the same:

Put on or take off what you need to be comfortable.

Put your hand on the doorknob and close your eyes.

Recall each of your senses.

Open your eyes and open the door.

Walk, utilizing awareness of your breath to help keep your mind reigned in, until you encounter something worthy of pause and taking note:

Something that symbolizes a reflection of yourself in the world.

You may be asking, what does that really mean, “a reflection of myself in the world?”

I encourage you to not think about it too much. You get to assign meaning to whatever you want to.

Examples:

A truck driving by blaring music loud, windows down, leaking oil down the center of the road (you may say: that is what my energy is feeling like these days, all over the place and draining much quicker than it should be)

A splatter of paint on the sidewalk (that is what my thoughts are like at the moment, I have so many ideas but I can’t figure out which one to focus on, or if I need to choose just one at all).

A bird crossing the sky going in and out of clouds (that bird is as confident and calm in flight as I want to be on the ground)

Or my own, represented in the image above that I captured last week:

A tangle of tree branches and a fan of a palm summoning me through the portal to a sea of tranquility (Reflecting to me: Ah…. I really do need to untangle some things, not be afraid of the tighter spaces, and trust that this process will lead me to where I am wanting to go… OR I could take it to mean: I need to keep my focus on the light at the end of this Covid-induced tunnel, we ARE going to get there someday).

Got the gist? Great.

(And if your monkey mind is saying “What if I don’t find anything?” or “What is the point of this?” maybe try considering “Why not?” instead. You get some exercise, you give your eyes a break from the screen. I feel rather certain you have wasted 15 minutes in less-productive ways.)

Ok. Now…Go! And yes you can take your camera if you like to document things.

I am here waiting for you to return. I will tell you about the image below when you get back.

Side note: These are the moments for which an electric kettle was invented: Flip the switch, drop the tea bag in a cup and it will be ready for you to pour a cup when you come back in.

Welcome back!

First off, the image above is 4 year old me, Annie, with my beloved dad, Tom, the man who can take a simple broken-off tree limb, a tennis ball, and a hat and create an adventure you find yourself laughing about for days. And the reason why I put this image here is because whenever I myself open the door and step out on a solo adventure, I try to evoke the sense of this highly-spirited little girl. It was in the bogs of The Lake District in the northern UK where I first tromped around and I remember very clearly the sensation of putting on my boots, my red coat that you see Dad here holding, and then pausing as I turned the knob on the door. In that tiny moment I felt a supercharge come through the knob because I knew that discovery, and freedom, was activated in the second the air seal was broken.

I am curious if that reflection is conjuring up your own memories of doorways, portals, thresholds you would cross as a child with anticipation?

And so…back to you today…

How was it out there?

Which of your senses tuned in first?

The sense of touch via the cold on your skin? The sense of sound via the birds chirping? Smell? Taste? Sight?

What did you discover to be a reflection of yourself in the world around you?

What did it reveal to you about how you are or who you are?

Is there an application for this learning in your day today? If not, no problem, glad you got a walk in and some new imagery in the brain to feed tonight’s dream life.

I will share, that I am so longing to be on adventures with remarkable people again, and the visions of such a thing are keeping me buoyant during these challenging times. And yet participating in these types of solo adventures, similar to the ones that I send people out on during retreats, are my main lifeline at the moment.

Until we can be together again safely in-person, I will meet you in the pause before the turn of the knob or in the pages of this remarkable book, one in which I feel like I am oddly meeting the British woman I might have become if I had stayed in that part of the world. I am dreaming of tea one day with the author, Katherine May, as she feels like a true kindred spirit. I particularly love the passages in which she describes winter around her when she is out walking. You often get the sense that what she is choosing to describe is a reflection of her internal state of mind, similar to the ever-shifting mirroring act between sea and sky.

In closing, keep curiosity close in this winter season. In my experience, the simplest messenger from the outside world, and the carrying back of its message into the cozy of home, can aid in your “rest and retreat in difficult times.”

XOXO

Annie