I've been meaning to do Sharon's walking meditations all week. Last night, snow fell. And this morning, I shoveled. I was really scared to shovel because that's how I hurt my back a few weeks ago. As a result, every few steps, I stopped and checked in with my body. Was anything twitching? Pulling?
As I shoveled, I practiced my breath. Breathe in, snow out, breathe in, snow out.
How's the back? It's okay. How are the legs? They are okay. It's going to be okay. It's supposed to be warm this weekend.
Winter will not last forever.
This was important, because I was afraid to shovel. And now I'm not.
Breathe in, breathe out, move on.
Comments
Someone on retreat once asked
Someone on retreat once asked me if anyone had ever died of restlessness. I replied, off the cuff, "Not from one moment at a time of it." I think the things we are afraid of we tend to solidify -- it's going to last forever, it will never change, "I can't do 8 more hours of this." But we can usually do 1 moment at a time, with strength and grace. Yours was a beautiful description of snow shoveling!