Thoreau's Walden Pond cooled me and my family a few days ago:
The children and I inherited a pile of sticks and a dug-out inlet from the last children to play at our section of beach, and we decided to fashion them into a makeshift fish weir.
One or two of us would chase the school of minnows along the bank toward the weir while another stood guard at the outer edge of the sticks, channeling the fish toward the inlet. My boy stood guard at the opening of the inlet, placing the thicker sticks and rock across it to trap them once the fish run was complete. It took us a few passes, but we ended in success: two tiny minnows trapped in the inlet! When we caught them, my mother, always up for fun, thanked the children for having caught "dinner."
Two plants I didn't recognize, growing on the banks of Walden. I've come to know the plants and geography of my own woods so well that now when I'm in another place and I come across plants I don't know, I feel as though I'm traveling abroad.
Another Kamana Sit Spot Challenge come to a close, and once again I feel grateful for the place the program and this Challenge hold in my life. Knowing that other folks the world over have committed to sit regularly in their own places on the earth is so inspiring to me, and helps me to re-establish my own sitting routine each year, right when I need it most.
Regular sits strengthen my connection to my own self, they help me to regain the sacred habit of listening with all my senses to the natural world. They reacquaint me with the communities of plants and animals around me, remind me playfully that my body is made to withstand a greater variety of weather (and biting insects) than I am accustomed to venturing out in.
They remind me of my place and value on this earth.
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