Narrow Path, Open Heart

Living gratefully today, I appreciate the sounds that my ears can hear; from house sounds to my own breathing. Sounds can help ground me in the present moment. 

Last Friday afternoon and evening, we got over a foot of fresh snow. Rather than my usual Saturday morning run, I was busy shoveling. By Sunday though, roads and sidewalks were clear enough to allow a run. I had to be cautious and slower (than usual), but it was a treat to be out in the fresh winter wonderland. 

I was giving thanks for snowplow operators and the road clearing, and my community neighbors for their efforts to make sidewalks passable. That included this stretch.  

It went on for a few hundred yards. Less than two feet wide, but plenty of room for a solitary runner to take her next strides. It was like running through a tunnel in ways. As I ran, I first thought about narrow-mindedness and how it serves no one well. It can be detrimental and divisive, and our contentious world is full of it. I had to ask myself in what ways am I narrow-minded?  How can I work on that?

Then, I retuned to my breath and thought about the idea, and presence, of an open mind. Open to the experience at hand, like running in a new world of snow. Open to the ideas and opinions of others, so that I may learn and grow from my interactions with them.

And always, always, an open heart. It starts there and ends there. Running a narrow path worked that day. Living a narrow path, with a closed mind and heart, that's something else entirely. It's not for me. I want to remain open. That is where aliveness and gratefulness abide.