Saturday, February 21, 2009

Places of "mental flossing"...

Although the activity of dental flossing might not conjure up warm or pleasant images, the idea of “mental flossing” just might.

On a recent sortie back "east", we hiked up to one of the Bow Valley’s superb summit view points, rising up over our old home town of Banff. The trail was snowy but well packed down from other eager winter hikers. A fast moving cold front was rapidly displacing the milder, clear air and flurries danced around us, playfully obedient to the up and down drafts of the mountain winds. Several other folks, who had assembled at its uppermost elevation reclined against comfortable boulders, mesmerized by the power, majesty and beauty of the ocean of peaks that extended to the west. You just knew that everyone felt the warm and gentle “buzz” from deep within - the wonder and simplicity of the present moment in a special place. Strangers on a rocky trail became a community, without sharing a word and without knowing each other’s name, in this place of “mental flossing”. Like the famous trio, Peter, James, and John on the Mount of the Transfiguration - we wished the moment would last forever.

Places and times of “mental flossing” bring about an experience of peacefulness, joy, clarity, inner quiet, and a sense of connection to the universe. Occasions of “mental flossing” help us un-clutter the soul, revive the spirit, and liberate a vibrant and determined sense of living fully in the present. In such places, we see more clearly, we feel more deeply. Different folks find different places and a diversity spaces that invite this experience. Some find this “present moment” sitting in quiet meditation. Others find it hiking in the mountains, on the forest trails, or paddling on the water. Still others find it gazing into the canopy of stars on the clear and moonless Island nights we have been blessed with this past week. Perhaps this experience is best discovered - by simply being still. It is so often in stillness that the most moving of experiences can find their birth.

Mental flossing - does a body, mind, and spirit good!

D.

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