Taking Time to Sniff
Lately, as we leave the dog park, Moon will be moseying slowly up the hill to the gate and towards the car. I often tell my husband that he’s putzy or lollygagging because he doesn’t want to leave yet, even though we’ve been there for over an hour.
Today, however, as he was sniffing some blades of grass near the car (and I was feeling impatient), I realized he’s mostly just living in the moment.
“Oh hey, what’s this smell?! Let me take a moment to explore this data. Now I’ll mark it with my own!”
Moon doesn’t know that the time on our parking is about to expire or that I have work to do when we get back home. He just knows that the sun is shining, the water of the river feels real fine, and that this spot right here smells reeeeeeeeally interesting.
Updating his “facebook”…
Which got me thinking about us humans (or at least MYSELF): how often do we get caught up in the doing (rather than the being)? How often are we rushing towards the milestones or living for the weekends or focusing only on the crossing off of the tasks on the do to lists?
We are in a waxing moon time in our moon cycle so taking action and doing actually align with this growing-to-full energy. And it’s always the right time to do action during an uprising where we can be working to support our community, fight for racial justice, and participate in our own inner healing work.
AND. How is it already August at the end of this week?! We when get caught up in the hustle and the grind, we sometimes forget to enjoy the process. It’s easy to fill our days with busyness and discover later that we missed the nuances of the present moment.
I know for myself that there’s a felt pressure of instant gratification where I want the vision I see for the future to happen right this minute and where I want all the knowledge from the books I’m reading to be absorbed through osmosis from pages into body in a snap.
So here’s a reminder for me, and for you if you need it, to also enjoy this moment, day, season, cycle. It’s also always the right time to stop and sniff the scents, breathe deep breaths, feel the air on our skin, notice the ground underneath our feet, to acknowledge our worth just as we are.