We All Float On

 

I have found a kind of holiness in going with the flow. Ceasing to fight the current has given my restless mind some much needed peace. My resolution for this milestone year was No Rushing. Every time I catch myself trying to speed through moments I pull back on the reins. In perfect synchronicity, life keeps providing me with reminders to slow down and allow unseen miracles to unfold.

I always reminisce on the same memory when I ruminate on this concept of "enjoying the journey" and not getting obsessed with an exact outcome: I took a classical literature class in high school where we studied the famous Keats poem Ode On A Grecian Urn (You know it even if you think you don't- the one where he famously decrees Beauty is Truth and Truth, Beauty). I had never seen our perennially displeased Professor Uhlman as passionate as he was the day we discussed this poem. Keats describes a romantic scene portrayed on the Urn: two lovers about to kiss, etched into marble memory for all eternity. Uhlman was captivated by this and really tried to drive it home for us, despite our total immaturity and naivety. "The moment before the kiss is the moment to remember!" He yelled. "Anticipation is everything! So many moments in your life will not live up to your expectation, don't get lost in projection!"

Funny how much this lesson sticks with me to this day. I hope Mr. Uhlman knows that his words and translations mattered; Still matter.

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter" -Keats

The wheel of life turns at a pace we dictate with our awareness and presence. Slowing everything down and appreciating the Here & Now fills the space between one success and the next. Anticipation and a kiss. A trailhead and a peak. Remembering those lovers on the urn helps me find meaning in all the little In-Between's and Almost's that account for most of my existence.

“The honey doesn't taste so good once it is being eaten; the goal doesn't mean so much once it is reached; the reward is no so rewarding once it has been given. If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won't have very much. But if we add up the spaces *between* the rewards, we'll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards *and* the spaces, then we'll have everything - every minute of the time that we spent.” -Benjamin Hoff

Pictures are from a hike to Lena Lake in the Olympic National Forest last weekend. We climbed about a mile past the lake to scope out the secret lake lookout hinted at online but no such luck....Oh well, not about the destination you know? ;)