Walking. T.G.I.F.

~ Live & Learn

Good morning.

4:23 am. Day 780 at Cove Island Park. 780 consecutive (mostly) days on my morning walk. Like in a row.

Beautiful morning. 60° F. Soft, gentle breeze.

I walk.

Images in front of me at the Park are repeats. I’m tired. This view is tired. All of it, uninspiring.

And that’s all that this Mind needs, just a sliver of darkness, and it’s match-to-gasoline.  Supreme Court strikes down New York Gun law, expanding concealed carry rights. Jan. 6 panel. Flood of pardon requests. Ukraine. Uvalde. Putin. Afghanistan earthquake kills 1000. New Mexico wildfire. Abortion rights. Gas Prices. Climate Change.

And then, a hardening, the shoulders tensing up, the thighs tight and stiffening, anger rolls up the torso like an incoming storm. Come DK. Snap out of it.

I walk.

I’m on the shoreline. And there they are. He’s embracing her.  They sit quietly and stare out over Long Island Sound.

This image prompts a softening.

Where I see Repeats, they see beauty.  The world awakening.

The image gives me hope.

They give me hope.

We need hope.

Halldór Laxness: “All the same…she was not too old once more to view the future in a dream; in a new dream. To be able to look forward is to live.”

Photos from this morning walk here.

 

52 thoughts on “Walking. T.G.I.F.”

  1. You were tired; the vista has never failed you, and arguably never will. When the government feels like it’s self-immolating, it’s impossible not to feel the shoulders tighten and the view turn colorless. And what trumps all of it? Love…it is what will keep us alive.

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  2. ‘I’m on the shoreline and there they are …’

    YOU – and your contemplative love – give me hope, David.

    Yes: ‘there they are … The world awakening’ – after 4.2 billion years. And all the dawns (& sunsets) from beginning to end point to love’s prevailing.

    Thank you 🙂🌱🙏

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  4. Resonating with the comments of all before me…you (too) are allowed an ‘off’ day, pal. No matter the grandeur of the moment, everyone has down days now and then. It’s life. 😉 And like Mimi and Simon, I am hanging onto small manifestations of love like a rat to a sinking ship these days. And as Beth says, sometimes people can do the smallest thing…a smile, a kind word, a simple touch…that pulls one back from the abyss. Every day a new day, another chance to find joy.

    Today I let go of, today I am grateful for, today I will focus on…. Thanks for the light and perspective you bring to my life, pal. You. Are. Appreciated. Full stop….

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  8. Exactly what Lori said (inspired by Mimi and Simon, as well). It doesn’t take much self-talk to send us spiraling down or up. There is a lovely balance here, DK, and just think, much as you had that cloud descending upon you, you allowed the light in by choosing to see love and change your course. It’s so easy to be swept up in the ugly – there is so much of it around us. It’s up to us to see outside of it, grasp onto it and, if we can, spread it. You just did.

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      1. Thank you. We Quebecers are celebrating St. Jean Baptiste today so it’s a holiday weekend and finally, the rain has stopped and the sun has come out!
        Have a great weekend, you too.

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  9. I hear you, like an echo in the mind ….. The challenge in the midst of overwhelming global chaos to hold steady the course. To hear the loon across the lake and still be surprised. To feel the warmth in a stranger’s embrace and take it as your own. To begin again as the sun rises and gently feel your own footfall calling you forward into the day.

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        1. Dear Catharine (with advanced thanks to David for hospitality in his comments thread) – thank you for your beautiful words. Friends here know me to be a delighted admirer of Mary Oliver’s great body of work. Your gorgeous reply to David reminded me of her. Indeed, your words are a life-giving, hope-inducing poem:

          ‘I hear you, like an echo in the mind … the challenge in the midst of overwhelming global chaos to hold steady the course. To hear the loon across the lake and still be surprised. To feel the warmth in a stranger’s embrace and take it as your own. To begin again as the sun rises and gently feel your own footfall calling you forward into the day.’

          Thank you for this ‘stranger’s embrace’ and for your warmth and hope.

          Simon 🙂🌱

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      1. Okay, confession time. I immediately thought of that song when I saw your photo – What the world needs now … is love -, but I couldn’t think of who sang it, so I had to google the song to find out it was Jackie DeShannon who sang it.

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  14. How wonderful! We need to hear this for those interludes. “Images in front of me at the Park are repeats.” So glad that couple showed up on your screen. Rather than “To be able to look forward is to live”, when we can simply be fully in the present, we are truly alive. Most of your photos and shares take us right there. Thanks for all of “it”!

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  15. We all need this reminder: “Images in front of me at the Park are repeats” and thankful that the sweet couple showed up on your screen. Rather than “To be able to look forward is to live” consider that when we can be fully present in the moment, we are truly alive. Thank you for taking us there time after time–not a process, but simply being fully there.

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