Coasting Uphill

On a hilly walk this morning, I found myself traversing hill and dale, while enjoying the feel of coasting when walking downhill. I looked forward to those stretches where I could relax and enjoy the breeze. It was almost like shifting my inner gear to neutral and just letting myself go. It was easy, effortless and even more importantly, I enjoyed it.

As I approached the next hill to climb up ahead, I thought I would play with the concept of coasting uphill. I know my mind is powerful in creating experiences, so why not this one?

When I reached the point where the ground changed from level to an ascent, I held on to a feeling of lightness. Yes, my legs worked more that they did on the level or downhill coasting, but somehow my mind maintained the ease of a coast.

The breeze that I felt when coasting downhill, was still present. The sky was the same beautiful blue. All that changed was the level of the earth beneath my feet. My sense of lightness and ease was the same in my uphill coast as it was in the downhill coast.

I was thrilled with my little experiment as I reached the peak and found myself not depleted. In fact, I was energized knowing that I can duplicate uphill coasting in my life. Why not face the things I dread with the same perspective? I know I will eventually accomplish it, so why not just coast?

My personal, self directed assignment (feel free to join me) is to allow myself to do what needs to be done, knowing I will complete it and allowing it to feel like coasting. Will this task require some conscious remembering? Yes! Will it require more physical energy, time, commitment than the down hill tasks that I do every day? Maybe....perhaps when I master coasting uphill, I will accomplish more with less effort because I enjoy it more.

Love Lessons

We humans often struggle with the concept of love.....giving it and receiving it.

Sometimes we expect it to be proven with the use of words, gifts or actions. Sometimes even then, we doubt love can be present, because we don't believe we're lovable.

For many of us, we believe we can only love those that are like us and share the same ideas and opinions about life, or look a certain way. Our capacity for love is sometimes limited to those that share the same skin color, ethnicity or religion.

We can't imagine anyone loving us unconditionally. Surely, we must earn love.

These human ideas are obviously limiting, although I know without question, true love does not have limits...it's universal and unconditional, just watch the way a dog loves his human.

Dogs love freely, without rules. They express their love for humans without limit and without specific cause or condition. Dogs are not embarrassed to express their love....they lick your face, wag their tails and may even try to dance with you.

Dogs do not judge your lovableness by how much you accomplished in your life, or for your race or sexual orientation. They don't assess their degree of love by how many mistakes you've made in your past. It doesn't matter how much money you have or where you live, or what promises you make about the future.

Dogs love freely because they don't analyze it. They do not judge. The dog's lesson on love is that it is simple, uncomplicated, forgiving and complete. No questions... no conditions...just a complete sense of connection that will last forever.

They also freely accept love from anyone willing and open enough to give it. They love because it feels good. They know love is natural and they're not afraid to feel it.

The View From Here

Early this morning, my husband and I took off for a 6 mile trek that took us by several beautiful vistas as we climbed the hills outside of town. As we paused to take in one particularly breath taking scene of rolling hills, green pastures and wild flowers covering the landscape, the question, "What is your view from here?" came to my mind.

With that inquiry came the awareness that it is the same question we can ask ourselves in every moment with whatever it may be that is in our sights. In other words, our view of life and of whatever may be on our plate (both the delectable and the unsavory) will appear to be different depending on our view. The only view that matters, is the view from where you are here and NOW.

If we are attempting to assess a current situation based on our fear of the future or our regrets of the past, our experience will be skewed. We cannot possibly predict how we will feel, or what we will do at sometime in the future, because we are not there yet. Between now and then countless experiences will have occurred which may quite likely affect our opinion and sensibilities later.

By the same token, if we make decisions based solely on anger, judgments, fears or regrets that developed due to past experiences, and are not allowing ourselves to learn and grow from these past experiences, we are cutting ourselves off from the wisdom of NOW.

The View From Here is what you see, feel, taste and intuit NOW. When I experience life from this moment (my current view), I cannot help but feel joyful. My logical and calculating mind will be put on pause, so my inner wisdom can take in the view.

With all judgments and fears put to rest (since they only exist in our views of the past or the future), peace and joy will be the landscape I will see.