I find solo walks very contemplative and my heart and mind were very full today as the rays of sun glinted off the leftover snow as I walked along the dyke - greeting friends, listening to the dusk bird chorus and breathing in the fresh breeze.
I was preoccupied with the unpredictability of life - the good and the bad, the magical and the sorrowful, the joyful and the challenging. All the moments, big and small that we are all experiencing as we live these lives we have been given.
I think to live wholeheartedly we are to embrace all the moments.
So much easier said than done.
Perhaps the perspective of middle age allows me to start to rail less against the hard things, the desperately sad and unjust things and to accept them for what they have to teach me, show me about myself and others.
I wish I could say I did this with good grace all the time.... but alas.
I didn't give anything up for Lent this year.
Instead I decided to redouble my efforts to show kindness.
I decided to show up more for my family and friends and for those in the ever expanding circles out from there - even when it's awkward or hard or when I doubt myself. A message, a what's app, a text, a note, an email, a walk, lunch, a coffee, ice cream- touching base, checking in, connecting. Not to solve anyone's problems but to just show up and say "hello".
We need each other friends to keep on going, to see ourselves more clearly, to not drown in loneliness, to be brave together in a world that seems completely unpredictable most of the time.
