Experience the Experience! A Walking Meditation

One of my favorite places to contemplate is when walking around Lake Johnson in beautiful Raleigh NC. I was there today breathing in the clean air and delighting in the different scents. I marveled at the sense of smell that dogs enjoy. That lead me to the oneness theory, then, why are we here.

It occurred to me that one reason we become human is to experience diverse situations, issues, relationships, cultures, thought patters, etc. The problems lie in what we hold onto and the issues and situations that become our embedded stories.

There is nothing wrong with remembering an experience even a painful one as long as we don’t incorporate the pain and suffering into our psyche.

As I walked, the thoughts became a walking meditation. It’s a delightful process, one that I recommend enjoying often. Once you get the hang of it, let your imagination soar. There is no limit to what you can join with, feel a part of, sense, and imagine being. It’s all a part of our human experience.

This is the meditation: as you walk (or sit) be aware of your body and what it’s touching. Become aware of your breathing. As you start to concentrate on your breathing and the air, be the air that you are taking into your lungs through your nose and say to yourself, “I am the air.” Feel the air filling your lungs and becoming part of your body and your blood. Hold that thought and fully experience the air and the scent that it carries. Then release it.

Feel the wind on your skin, hold the thought to fully experience being the wind and release it. Imagine being the path you’re walking on experience being the path and release it. If a leaf falls, be the leaf disconnecting from the tree and be the falling leaf. Watch it float and settle on the ground and imagine what it feels like and release it.

Be the rock and release it. Be the tree and release it. Be the worm and release it. Be the person coming toward you and release it. Be the sound of the cricket and release it. Be the water, feel its soft wetness, the flow of the current or its stillness, experience it and release it.

As I walked I felt an itch. I became the itch fully, went into and experienced the itch all without touching the itchy place. When I was ready to release it the itch dissolved. It had been experienced and release. I could have held onto the thought of being itchy and possibly escalated it into a rash that I could show everyone how much discomfort I was having keeping the experience. Or I could go into it fully and release it.

Make no judgment of something being good or bad. Be it. Experience it. Have no concern of nice or ugly. Imagine being a slug, a bird, a feather, a spider, a turtle, a web. Simply experience the experience and let it go.

This will help the next time you get mad or feel angry. Be mad. Be good and mad. When you’ve had enough of being mad, let it go. When you can experience the feeling fully and let it go you have released it. It’s gone. Don’t carry that anger around to poison your system and every thing around you. Be angry, address the issue and let it go.

Write me, if you like, and tell me how it went for you.

Experience the experience and let it go.

Dare To Be Different

I’ve been writing and performing some out-of-the-box weddings lately that are inspiring as well as unusual. I’ll tell you about a few of the most recent ones.

A man proposed to the love of his life in the morning. She called me shortly after noon to ask if I would do a wedding on short notice. They applied for and received their license and were married IN a lake that evening of the same day.

I’ll explain a little. The couple wanted a serene outdoor setting and chose one of NC’s beautiful near-by lakes. Attending the service would be the couple, her 2 children and 2 friends as witnesses. As soon as we arrived at the location, the children couldn’t resist the welcoming water, kicked off their shoes and waded in. They didn’t want to come out! So the bride took off her shoes (and pantyhose) and strolled in too. The groom decided it looked like a good idea, popped off his shoes, rolled up his pant legs and meandered in after them. There was no way I was going to stand on the shore so I joined the 4 of them in the water and we laughed all the way through the ceremony. The 2 witnesses dutifully recorded it all on film.

The next outdoor wedding was to take place in a magnificent garden complete with gazebo, pond, foot bridge, exotic flowers and manicured lawn. And then it started to sprinkle. We waited for awhile but the clouds insisted on kissing us with its moisture. The bride remained focused on her garden dream wedding. The chairs were wiped off, umbrellas provided and the wedding party processed in between the raindrops. No one really got wet, just delightfully cooled.

The very next day was a wedding in front of a log cabin. We still had clouds but their purpose was to shield the sun. This was another perfect nature setting. The green lawn sported white chairs draped with golden bows. The center aisle held a white carpet strewn with flower petals. At the end of the aisle stood an exquisite arch covered in flowers and positioned between 2 deep pink crepe myrtle trees in full bloom. On either side of the archway were 2 white columns standing as sentinels, topped with lacy ferns. The bride’s gown was elegant in its simplicity, gently decorated with pearls to match her single string pearl necklace. The ceremony included a hand fasting which extended into a hand holding ceremony. It was just the right touch without being overdone. After the service, a lavish feast of homemade treats was served on the back deck.

The point to remember is, “Whatever you can conceive can be achieved.” In my book, the impossible only takes a little longer.