Wintry Mix

Wintry mix: 

it's 4:00 a.m and there's a steady rainfall now, soon to turn into a wintry mix that happens so often this time of year, being mid February and still winter after all. I have a cup of coffee and some writing ahead of me, having just finished an hours worth of meditation and yoga, feeling comfortable and settled in with no real reason to head outside and face the mix of rain and snow. But I know I will, I'll dress warm and have the right gear to keep dry, yet still I'll be wet and cold. 

it's February after all. 

and maybe that's what draws me outdoors, regardless of the weather each morning - each day, and through every season, presents a once upon opportunity to experience is as it, an actuality of this wintry mix that's only truly known by the touch of rainfall or snow. This is a practice of direct experience, reality as it presents itself on an early February morning, and even if I'm less than eager to step outdoors, there's still a deep wish to connect with the uniqueness of this moment.

and this morning offers me a wintry mix.

so the practice comes by not choosing which mornings to walk or if I should stay indoors, it's in disregarding my preference for a warmer sunrise over these dreary winter conditions. I will never have this particular morning again, an opportunity to watch a raindrop turn to a colder touch of snow, or to know what other creature might venture out to explore the world. My neighborhood, suburban, yet full of wonder and wildlife, calls for me to step outdoors and forget the boundaries of  a city's landscape - it's a wilderness right now, as it is every morning just before the hint of dawn. 

and this wintry mix...

is an opportunity to explore 

the uniqueness of this morning. 

~

Peace, Eric