Today has been a recovery day for me. I spent most of the day inside, as it’s been a bit chilly outside, and I’m just working at integrating myself after my retreat back into my day-to-day life here. I’ve still got a lot of laundry to do, but I’ve also done my breathwork, yoga, morning pages, and I’ve gone out for some walks. We have had a very mild start to winter, and there has been hardly any snow that’s fallen, and none that’s stuck to the ground. I know that our municipalities are happy to save money on plowing!
I did decide that I should take this opportunity to get out and add to my list of towns for the Challenge. As this Challenge is evolving, I am finding that I want to use this opportunity to not only go to new towns and cities that I’ve never visited, but to also go to new places in towns where I’ve known for a long time. By the time I decided to do it this afternoon, I didn’t have too much time to travel, so I decided to go to Rock Meadow in Belmont, which is the next town over from me. I had always seen it from the road while driving, but had never been there myself.
I learn upon starting my walking meditation there that it used to be a farm, was owned by McLean Hospital, and was the site of victory gardens during World War II so that people could grow food. The are still victory gardens there, although they are dormant at this time of year, but I was surprised at how big it was. Most of the area is an open meadow, and it makes you think of places that you would see in an Jane Eyre movie of the English countryside.
After meditating and walking for a while, I came upon a surprise. (See the next post to find out what!)
So, have you made room in your life for surprises to happen to you?