I’m still thinking about the dog walking. “Now to carry Dog’s lessons when she isn’t there at the end of the leash to keep track of my mind.” Exactly. It’s so much easier when the dog is there beside me.
I know what to do, but without that waiting, eager being at the end of the leash, I forget. I still behave as if I think that Be Prepared means Expect the Worst. Stay Alert to all the ways things could go wrong. Watch for Trouble. Gird your loins.
“Breathe. Sink into each step and be here with the earth, pacing her heartbeat into my own. Let that steady, slow, peace fill me…There is only this moment, this breath, this meditative footstep, and beside me, her toenails clicking,” I wrote.
Peace and presence bring power, but if I want to be present in peace, then loin-girding and tensing my muscles to spring isn’t the way to go. That kind of preparation doesn’t work. Not in our urban jungle life today, and not, I suspect, all that well for the pre-historic hunter either. It certainly doesn’t work for me. It takes calm, centred awareness to survive in jungles.
The dog taught me how to calm the moment. If I pay attention, I can see that she has another lesson for me. She is always in each moment. She doesn’t carry any burden with her from play to sleep to eat to walk.
Me, on the other hand, I had to breathe and focus through every step of our walk because my worries bounced on the end of my toes and clamored for my attention. I can’t blame them. I invited them along.
I found myself thinking about a poster my pilot brother had on his wall when he started flying lessons.
“A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid situations that would require the use of his superior skills.” – Frank Borman
Ahh. I see.
Being prepared for life means living the kind of life where the things that I am preparing for don’t need preparation. I don’t always know what will happen or what other people will do, but I can choose to always know what I will do.
I’m about to go to a meeting. I have some seriously negative expectations about that meeting. I think I’ll let them fly away, bounce from the end of my toes into the sunny air as I walk through trees and sidewalk patios and summer downtown on my way there.
I’m prepared, peaceful, present, and powerful. I know what I will do.