Wind and Branches
It might be cool if this was a post where I make some clever comparison between wind, branches and something. An AI something, or a PKM or cyber something, or a tech something to fit in with the vast majority of the things I post here.
I haven’t got any of those I’m afraid. This is more of a wind and branches and a sad admission sort of post. Here it is - and believe me, it feels super lame to share this:
I am working on taking some moments every day to be still and completely relaxed outdoors. Moments to take in the ways that branches are moved around by the wind. Moments to fully appreciate all the trees that are all around me where I live. And moments to ask my dog if she is enjoying the breeze as much as I am.
Why would anyone need to work on this, you might ask, and I have had to ask myself. My day job can be pretty hectic at times, but I’m fortunate and work for an organization that supports work/life balance and where no eyebrows are raised if I’m on top of my tasks and I message our team to say “taking a quick walk”. I have a great work shift, out at around 4pm and plenty of warm daylight hours left to enjoy for most of the year.
The reason I need to work at finding moments of calm outdoors is the routines I’ve created for myself made me forget the value of even just a few zen moments each day. It’s not that I don’t get outside much. I do, but my focus is usually all over the place. I’m thinking about work projects, ideas to do this thing or that thing better, whether my active zone minutes and step count for the day are looking good, what I need to do when I get back in front of a computer screen, and plenty of other random subjects.
A crazy part of this is that I meditate daily and practice Qigong, and both of those have taught me how important it is to embrace stillness and nature and so forth. And I’ve been able to do that while meditating or doing Qigong routines. For a while, I had not honored that or given it priority during the remainder of a typical day though.
Over recent months I’ve been changing things up. I’ve got into a nice groove with carving out more moments every day for being calm, present in the moment, and full of gratitude for nature around me and all the good people and things that I have in my life.
As I’ve sat here writing this I’ve gone from a “how lame am I” to a “hey, good call, keep it going” frame of mind. And that’s my plan.