Take a Hike!

I was jogging through the Park Reserve a few months back when I started to look at a section of the trail with too much familiarity. What I mean by that, is, I stopped seeing/looking for new sights every few steps, and as a result every new step that day throughout the whole run seemed much like the previous step-predictable and repetitive, knowing what was around every corner. As a result of that thinking, I started looking far ahead, and wanting the run to be done. Mentally I finished the run and was back at the parking lot, even though physically I had only taken few steps. When I placed myself mentally back at the parking lot, ready to depart, I slowed to a waltz to collect my thoughts on the bark patterns of a nearby birch tree, and I realized I was in a hurry to be done, because I wasn't living in the moment, and that rush to be done encouraged the familiar surroundings starting to become too familiar-now they were repetitive, and repetition, though a great teacher for crafting a skill, can also in the same manner be the duller of new creativity..because if anything is done too long without variation, it becomes repetitiously stale, and takes away, rather than gives. Pretty soon, you worry that you are starting to just going through the motions. You are reminded of the Aesop quote about fire and water; "It is with our passions, as it is with fire and water, they are good servants but bad masters." (Aesop) So I stared at the birch bark, and thought of what enjoyment I was looking to find back at the vehicle, that couldn't be found where I was now, in the peaceful moment I was taking for granted..and you realize after thikning on it for a moment, that it is just that common human sickness we all have a little bit of, of never being quote fully satisfied, and always wanting a little more, no matter what it is that we currently have. It's the old "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," school of thought where people, if they earn a little more money, will just spend up to that new amount of income, and be equally broke as when they made half as much (but were equally happy or unhappy) is a good metaphor for finding fulfillment on the hiking trail of life too. Because once a mindset is established of being at a certain level of happiness that is attached to the pursuit of something external-whether money, health, happiness, looks, gadgets we own, car we drive, how updated the phone is..then true happiness is always out of reach, because it's not contained within us, but rather it's something external that is always just out of the reach of full happiness. So I changed my perspective in the moment on the trail, and started to see things differently, usually when this happens, it's time to take a different path, because the one that I have been on, has run its course, and with so many paths out there, with so many variables of possibilty, the new ones are likely to bring a new perspective, new sights, new footing, and new surroundings. But I started to look upwards, and look for different things that I usually look for. I kept my line ov vision, upward on the flatter sections, and started to lose myself in the moment of each steps, and before I knew it, I was forming some new ideas, and shortly after that the parking lot arrived, and too soon, because I went right past it, and did another loop. I know all that's been said before, in a number of ways, but it's hard (at least for me) to have a deep self realization of something without a uniquely personal experience that helps gleam that deeper understanding, and I truly believe a walk in the woods, helps us all no matter what find it a little easier. Not sure where I was going with this, I started out with a different title, and different subject and it morphed into a sales pitch for purchasing a park pass..which I can't think of a better value than a State Park Pass for the money spent.