Motion

I was lying on my back under the skylight this morning while doing my stretches. I looked up and saw puffy clouds against a cerulean sky. Beyond the low clouds, a jet's wake ran straight across the sky like two neat parallel chalk marks. The jet's wake moved, and the clouds were moving at a different pace. I realized that I was also moving, rolling with the Earth's rotation. It was a breathtaking realization. I felt a little dizzy.

My mind can become quite linear without adequate discipline. I can operate on a Point-A-to-Point-B premise all too routinely with calendars and lists. I became more so after I had cancer ten years ago. Trudging through that challenge required a certain robotic compliance and regularity to survive.

I am coming out of a similar period now. Not cancer this time. This time I was renovating my house in preparation for the sharing of my domestic life with my partner of nine years. It's done, more or less. Peter has arrived with Francine and K.D., his two cats. The boxes are emptying. The dust is settling. The daily inconveniences and accelerating costs have ebbed.

It's time to adjust my linear thinking again. It's time to look around, walk in widening circles. Motion outside the straight line of aspirations and goals opens my mind to wonder and joy. It is time to venture into the unpredictable. This is motion less inhibited by gravity. I think it helps my practice immensely by keeping me fresh.