Thursday, September 15, 2005

Selective Observation Urban Nature Walks

I walk at lunchtime, most days. The standard route I take is about 45 minutes' worth. Over the drawbridge, turn just before the beach, through the neighborhood, back over the bridge. A lot of concrete in view, some dense-population high-rise condominiums, banks, construction, plenty of cars. I'd rather be climbing a mountain path or hiking through a forest. However, in addition to the human contributions to the landscape, nature is present in large amounts on my walk. I practice tuning into the nature, tuning out the rest, and it is rewarding. The texture of a dead palm frond, leaning against the trunk of the tree where it fell. A lizard running across a rock. The smell of frangipani and, immensely, the air. Yesterday I experienced the way the air that is moving across my face is connected to the sky, up there where the clouds are, so vast and various. Mind expansion is restful, and connection--the air and the sky, myself with the natural world--is essential.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool. Good to get away from all the concrete, if only mentally. There are a lot of new trees and such here, and all the buildings are shorter and older so it seems like the trees have more room. Walking around, it feels like there is a lot of green. And I walk a lot too, these days.

Danielle

Read/Think/Live said...

cagedrabbit--

Thanks for stopping by! I started this blog because my daughter went off to college and I wanted to be able to rant to her. Of course, I'm on Achenblog continuously--I could never give that up, I honestly believe I am Joel's biggest fan. It just got a little too weird for me in the kaboodle, reality was getting too slippery, somehow.

I say Yertle the Turtle is the reason I am a socialist sympathizer. At work, I often think of the lines, "I know up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom, we too should have rights!"--although I generally don't say them out loud.