Mt. Zirkel Wilderness, Colorado // With this forced down time since breaking my nose, I've had lots of time to read about and ponder the relationship between the highs and lows of life: the great moments of self-actualized fullness, and the in-between stretches of boredom, sadness, frustration, injury; the crests and the troughs; the State of Gold and the State of Blue. And, like any other imagined dichotomy, the lesson is that each State completely depends on the other for its existence. Seeking one and not the other is, as Alan Watts put it, like trying to have the mountains without the valleys. The heart of mindfulness is turning discrimination into acceptance, learning to appreciate the present moment for exactly what it is. So, if Gold is radiant energized activity, Blue is healing: the time that you need to work through whatever is going on, renew, or just recharge. (I mean, this was the basic lesson of Inside Out, even!) The trick, at least for me, has been to remember this: The glass isn't half-full or half-empty, it's totally full!
Mica Basin, Colorado //
Mount Zirkel Wilderness, Colorado / The trickle of a small stream is probably one of the most popular white noises, used for everything from meditation to massage to pre-takeoff airline videos. Personally, I've always preferred the roar of a rushing river. To sit on a rock--as close as I can get to a tumbling fall or a grand rapid--and be surrounded by the chorus of a trillion water droplets, each with its own trajectory as it splashes down the mountain slope. To fill my ears with the noise of it all, to fill my head with awe at it all. And to think of how this river making me feel so much awe is just one of millions, just a tiny fraction of the earth's collective river system, all flowing into one other in their tireless journey to the sea.
