Musings on a Saturday walk

This morning I went for a walk on Pine Ridge with Skipper and Brogan.   I had my camera with me so the pace was slower than my morning walks with Kaye, but that's a good thing.  The air smelled good, especially when I could catch a whiff of pine.

I started thinking about change.  There are big changes, obviously, like what happened this week nationally and there's plenty of commentary on that.  

There are seasonal changes.  Today it is late fall, almost winter, so the leaves are off the trees and everything looks brown.  There has been a little snow and there will probably be a whole lot more this winter.  Hopefully there won't be as much this winter as there was last winter but that's out of my control.  

There are daily changes, like the sun rising and setting, the lunar cycles, the light changing as I walk.  

There are physical changes that I experience in my body.  I have to wear knee braces now when I walk to avoid the pain of chondromalacia, runner's knee, even though I don't run.  I could call it "Bhutanese Knee" since that's when it became problematic.  There are other inspiring age-related changes I'd just rather not dwell on.  

There are mental changes.  My memory, always questionable, is less reliable.  On the plus side though, there are some changes related to gaining Wisdom!  The multitude of life's experiences help me to make wiser choices sometimes.  

There are emotional changes.  Being ever so wise and mature I'm less volatile and erratic.  

There are spiritual changes.  I have evolved from my early Episcopalian upbringing through some interesting phases into a place that combines different spiritual practices into one that works for me.  Quantum physics, buddhism, pantheism,  and recovery all blend into some kind of uniquely-mine-mix.

So, as I was walking along, taking pictures, admiring trees and rocks and sky, I thought about the fact that every step I took involved change.  I changed my position, my perspective, my views.  I thought about how on the molecular level I am constantly in motion along with the planet and as always wondered why we don't just fly off into space.  Then, thinking about space reminded me of the how big the universe is and how small I am.  That used to bother me but it doesn't any more because I realize we are all ONE and I am part of the oneness, a little speck of consciousness manifesting itself.  

Then I thought about how difficult change can be and how resistant I am to it when I am not practicing acceptance.  It's an emotional pattern to fight change when in fact everything is changing moment to moment.  The antidote?  Live in the moment!  Easier said than done, but it does work.  Dwelling on the past and worrying about the future won't change anything.