In general, the vacation was splendid. It only rained when we travelled. We had nice hotels and wonderful visits with family and friends. We had ideas about what we wanted to do, but we left a lot of wiggle room and just figured it out as we went.
There was nowhere to go, but where we were. There was nothing to do but what was in front of us. That is where the real magic of the vacation took place. Being on the road provided an incredibly rich opportunity for practice. What is made it so rich and so easy to engage, was the very fact that we were on the move. It was impossible to see each day and each moment as anything other than fleeting and fluid.
Somedays we woke with only vaguest ideas of what we wanted to do that day and where we were likely to be at it's end. Even the days that were well planned involved places and activities that were so new that this raw, open, welcoming state of mind was naturally arising.
In terms of practice, the challenge to this flow state came once we got home. When the settings were once again familiar and the schedule re-emerged, I could feel my expectations gaining weight. Some of theme became downright obese. However, being school teachers we have the summer. As such, there are only so many constraints on our time.
The great challenge before me this season is embodying this fact: The ease of mind on our trip was not a function of the places we were, or of our timings. This is a function of mind.
Despite the weather, the scenery and the activities, there was still the possibility for stress and anxiety to rule the day.
-We drove over 5000 Km with 2 girls in tow, ages 8 and 10.
-the air conditioning died late in the trip.
-we (I) had a difficult with one way streets in Old Quebec.
-We drove in downtown Manhattan.
-We often had very different ideas of how to spend our time.
It would be easy to tell the tale of a vacation in which these were the dominant factors. They weren't. They were part of the texture of each day, just like the back roads of Maine, the zip-lines in Moncton, the friends in Long Island and whales in St. Andrew's.
Over those 11 days, my very life taught me a wonderful lesson about how it should be lived.
I vow to take up the practice of embodying this each day.
