Every now and then I get into a strong routine of walking on the beach a few mornings a week, it’s a brilliant space to workout by power walking in the soft sand, raising the heart rate, breathing deeply and most of all multi-tasking by listening to audio books or podcasts along the way!
On this particular day I was focused, head down doing my slow soft shuffle in the sand, ear buds in listening to someone rabble on to me about the virtues of how standing on my head for an hour a day will make me smarter and more calm (listening to ‘The Cow in the Parking Lot; a Zen Approach to Anger Management') lol.
As I walked I would raise my head and smile at the people who passed as we crossed in opposite directions when this one particular person turned back and tapped me on the shoulder and indicated toward the ocean. You see I was so engrossed in watching where my feet went in the sand (and trying to picture whether I could actually stand on my head at all) and didn’t realise that right along side me, right behind the very first wave on the shore break, was a huge pod of dolphins! Who knows how long they’d been swimming along in the direction I walked - I was oblivious to them, and there were so many!
I stopped to count, groups and groups of them all travelling along the beachfront, it was breathtakingly spectacular – and I nearly missed it, because I was in my own little world, head down, closed to everything around me. What’s the point of walking in nature if you don’t look around? Connection goes beyond just connecting with people, it goes toward connecting with your environment, connecting to the sights and smells of things that deliciously ignite your senses and give you an unexpected magic moments.
What have you been so engrossed in an activity that you miss the joy around you? Take time to lift your head from the computer and actually see the extended world around you, you may be surprised and see your own 'pod of dolphins'!
