Reflection

Reflection: A day of in the Everglades

Recently in my own reflection practices I’ve become aware of the weight of the past. Feeling at times the burden of what I should have or could have done. More exercise, more focus on nutrition, more connection with friends and the list goes on.  The insight shared with me by one of my teachers is that the past cannot be redone and starting fresh each and every day gives a renewed opportunity to move forward and not back. I have been on the road a lot recently and have seen this theme in many of my workshops. When we begin to let go of the past the reflection of the present becomes clear.

In my running group I remind my runners that energy follows focus. Looking down or back versus looking ahead has a significant impact on the run…and in other areas of our life.

I share this with you in the hopes that it speaks to those who also share this burden. The poem I include below was shared with me and I found it to be a great source of inspiration.   In whatever you do…be EPIC!

The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?