Look Up, Look Down

I realized on my morning walk today that when I look down, my mind often starts to drift toward and stick on the nitty gritty. When I look up, I can feel my head release a bit into the clouds (or lack thereof). I've never really correlated these physicalities to their mental counterparts I experience, but I'm realizing there is definitely a connection.

I take my walks to get my head into the clouds, to cultivate wonder and an appreciation of the right now. I don't take them to plan my day and worry about things I cannot change. While I cannot deny for myself the ability of walking to generate ideas - the consistent rhythmic churn can get those mental gears churning too - I do place careful emphasis upon my desire for these walks to be more about noticing what is already than generating what is to come.

Walking away from this morning, I have a good kinesthetic tip for myself to be cognizant of when my head is hunched down into it's thoughts, and when it's on the balloon string of my neck, floating up into the here and now. They both have their purpose: it's up to me to notice when one serves me better than the other.

Look up.