Exactly As It Is

Exactly as it is: 

mostly, just allowing myself to meet nature exactly as it is each morning, bringing less with me to alter the immediacy of the landscape, with eyes and feet adjusting to the predawn pace. It's the simplicity of a morning walk, an extension of my sitting mediation now given to motion, with no need to go any faster than the light of stars and moon allow. 

my walks have become earlier now, missing the sunrise by at least an hour and walking mostly in the dark as I attempt to avoid streetlights and house lamps. I almost crave the dark, solitary, as if a need need to retreat even further within, even as I embrace the early morning world. And that seems to be the point here, not the avoidance of people or artificial light, but just a short return to the natural world, a truer silence and softer light, easing my way into the busyness of the fast arriving day. 

mostly, it's about allowing myself to meet nature...

exactly as it is each morning. 

mindfully, 

and not forcing my pace upon the world. 

only by this does nature heal, if we keep altering it with our preference and demands it becomes tame, true wilderness retreating ever farther from our view. And yes, there is true wilderness close at hand, as even my suburban landscape reveals to me a hidden landscape in plain view, mostly unseen as we hurry through our days. This is why I wake so early, before any rush begins, seeking to delay what's unavoidable, matching my pace with dawn's slow arrival and basking in a starlit world. 

allowing myself to meet nature,

exactly as it right now. 

~

Peace, Eric