Chin Up
As often as possible, I take a long walk near a reservoir in the hills of Hollywood. I frequently see coyotes, deer, rabbits, and hawks; it is my foray into nature in the midst of urban chaos. Like a meditation, the journey clears my head. Frequently, I have an epiphany about some challenge in my life. I never thought my jaunt in nature would provide such an illuminating teaching metaphor, however, as has been shown to me the past few weeks.
About two weeks ago, we had a nasty bit of heavy rains and winds in what is normally sunny SoCal. During these storms, many trees were felled. Once such tree happened to land across the path I take, effectively blocking the trail. It is not a catastrophe, except for the tree. Everyone simply must walk around it, returning to the path after skirting the dead branches.
an obstacle
Every day for the past two weeks, I approached this tree as I headed up the hill at the beginning of my walk, lamented its mighty fall and nimbly avoided entanglement. And every day for the past two weeks, on my return down the hill, I would suddenly RUN INTO THE TREE and stop, startled. I would then chuckle at myself, backtrack a few steps, and go around the obstacle.
Every. Single. Day. Why?
I realized that, very shortly after beginning my walk, I stopped looking ahead. Instead, I looked at a spot on the ground about three feet in front of me and my thoughts were not on what my eyes were seeing. I also realized that I do this ALL THE TIME. It is a metaphor for my life.
I do not see ahead. I become preoccupied with what is directly in front of me. I lose sight of the bigger picture, of the whole journey. I do not keep my chin up.
On a whim, I tried a little experiment. I consciously walked the entire forty-five minute trip while looking straight ahead, at eye level. It was INCREDIBLY difficult. My eyes kept wanting to drop. My head kept wanting to drop. My chin kept wanting to drop.
I noticed that almost everyone I passed was looking only three feet ahead, at the ground. I began to notice that the same behavior is evident everywhere. We don’t look ahead. We don’t look out.
the view
But I saw so much beauty when I kept my chin up. A bird’s nest I would have missed. Shades of green only obvious at a distance. Contrasts of color and light. And it made me wonder.
How much am I missing of my life when I only look three feet in front of me and my head is down?
I’m going to continue trying to change the way I walk. I may step in a couple piles of dog shit, but I think that is probably the only down side to this endeavor. I’ll let you know if I have another epiphany.
How do you walk? And how does it reflect the way you walk through life?
Your post really got me thinking — at first I thought that I do the walking (and handling life) thing differently, because usually (with whatever is going on in my life – whatever I”m working on) I seem to focus on the big picture and miss what is here and now.
But then, with a tiny bit of reflection, I realized that I DO look down while I walk (and it’s not like I’m doing it to avoid dog shit – my thoughts are just often somewhere else) – and somehow I know this is connected to how I get tripped up when I’m working…
I am SO curious to see how I can bring chin up thinking into my life (and my walking)! So cool – can’t wait to see what comes up.
Square-Peg Karen´s last blog ..Be Inspired Be Encouraged Be You
Karen: I am curious to know, too, so please follow up with me. And, though I didn’t mention it in my post, I tend to think that I’m always thinking about the future and rarely in the here and now, but I realized that the future I’m in tends to be a PROJECTED future (usually awash in fears) and the reason I’m there is because I’m stuck staring unconsciously at that spot three feet in front of me. Does that make sense? Anyway, enjoy your journey, wherever it leads!
What great insight and self-awareness. Love it.
I actually tend to be one of those people always looking up at the sky. But often I do look straight ahead and I’m always wondering why it’s so scary to look someone in the eye sometimes. I often try to smile, without being creepy, hopefully, and you know what, a smile back sometimes makes my day.
Lollygagger´s last blog ..what to expect
Molly: Oh, the fear of looking someone straight in the eye – I totally get that. In fact, I’m going to explore that a bit. Thanks for the inspiration.
And, yes, I completely agree that a smile back can absolutely make my day. Even the act of smiling, myself, can improve it.
I love this post Emma! As I was reading it, I realized that I had written something very similar back in October. It’s a good reminder for me to keep my chin up! And a little dog shit never hurt anyone
It’s so easy to get caught up in the worry of the next moment, but the truth is that we only have the very one we are in now. I’m taking an e-course right now and one of the things we are working on is BEing the journey, not being on the journey.
And I soooo relate to this ~
I’m always thinking about the future and rarely in the here and now, but I realized that the future I’m in tends to be a PROJECTED future (usually awash in fears) and the reason I’m there is because I’m stuck staring unconsciously at that spot three feet in front of me.
olive & hope´s last blog ..Not Perfect or Pretty.
O&H: I love that – “BEing the journey” – so true! Here’s to stepping in a bit of dog shit