For all of you who encouraged me to write (regardless of the fact that it was only two people and they were family), here's another pile of rambling reflections "from the trail".
Place: Wachusett Route: Echo lake road, upper meadow, Jack Frost, mountain house trail Weather: Blue sky, average temp 60F
Walking with Lucy yesterday reminded me of the chariot analogy that I saw on one of the yoga websites but it turns out it's actually from the Katha Upanishad. To save you a bit of reading, the chariot analogy breaks down the components of existence into different roles. For example, Lucy (my Dog) represents consciousness (the focus of attention at any given moment) and I (the person walking the dog) represents the Mind (the "discriminating intelligence" attempting to direct the consciousness).
During the walk I realized that some of the people you meet on the trail have their dogs trained to focus solely on voice commands, pad along by their heel at all times and practically pee on command. While others have "willful" dogs that need constant redirection and whose focus can shift from "sniffing grass" to "SQUIRREL!" in a microsecond. I frequently say that walking Lucy is like trying to "walk a bag of cats" and realized (again) that my focus feels the same way sometimes.
Speaking of Dogs, during the walk I noticed that my thoughts seemed to be organizing around a common theme of "Impact", as in everyone has an impact on everyone else and the following examples came to mind.
Unintended consequences: Every time I hike Wachusett, Lucy is ALWAYS on her leash. Why? Well first of all, because it's one of the rules:
"All Dogs must be leashed at all times".
Second (and I only mention this due to those who think that there's an implied "except for my Snowflake" clause in the rule), loose dogs are usually trouble and here's why:
a) Snowflake WILL chase critters of all sizes and could either hurt (or be hurt by) them.
b) Some people are terrified of dogs. And invariably these are the people that Snowflake will try the hardest to "get to know".
c) Some people have dogs who are terrified of other dogs. As a result, such a person would probably leash their dog to help defuse any potentially "problematic interactions". Such a person also frequently sees Snowflake running towards him on the trail about one second before hearing Snowflake's owner (who is trailing far behind) yell:
"IT'S OK!! SNOWFLAKE IS FRIENDLY XD!!"
To which my response is usually:
"THAT'S GREAT!! MINE ISN'T!!
Usually I get halfway through "ISN'T" before Snowflake makes it to us and all hell breaks loose. The point is, their decision to not leash their pet can have a serious unintended impact. Please leash your pet if you're walking outdoors in an area with a leash rule.
Life from death: I recently reconnected with an old friend from Norwood, who by all appearances is battling his way back from an addiction. This past weekend Jim decided to share some terrible stories about Heroin addiction and none (except maybe one, his) had a happy ending. Jim's approach to sharing these stories is to introduce you to the people, give you just enough information about them so that they become a living, breathing human being and then he explains how they killed themselves and finally the impact it had on their family and friends. It's told in such a raw and authentic way that you feel compelled to reach out to your kids and make sure they understand something of these stories, so the same won't happen to them. I have no idea what he's been through or done up to this point, but all we really have is the present moment and he's chosen to use his to reach out and try to prevent this from happening again. I think that's pretty awesome and know it's already had an impact on me. I've suggested that he should write a book or at least start a blog.
Never forget: Karen has a friend from High School, Kevin, who I also happen to be friends with on FB. Kevin is constantly reminding everyone of the need for vigilance, a solid lunch plan and pug power. More importantly he continuously reminds me of those who are giving their lives in service to this country. Every day is a Memorial Day to Kevin and therefore it becomes one for me. I'm not saying thank you for your service, that will come on Veterans Day, but I will say thank you for sharing your personal recollections about those that have passed, its made an impact.
With honor to those who gave their lives so that we can have ours.
