A Leaf In A Stream

My hips sway quietly and proudly with each step. 

Less like a model strutting their stuff on the catwalk, more like a swashbuckling pirate keeping their balance while walking along a narrow log floating in the sea.

My breath settles into an easy, intentional, nourishing rhythm.

I inhale through my nose, deeply and slowly. In again through my mouth, but just a sip this time. Then I exhale through my nose quietly, even carefully.

As my exhale ends, a soft hum emanates from within, usually the same few notes revisited again and again like favoured lovers, rising, falling, and rising again.

My awareness is broad, effortlessly soaking in so much detail from my surroundings. 

The rich, warm scent of cedar hanging thick in the air. The soft thump of my feet meeting dirt packed by decades of footsteps. The bugs that dance with delight in the sunbeams. The dying leaves layered amongst the blooming ones.

The vibration of sub bass frequencies reverberating in, and tickling, my breastbone. The swell of heat rising from all the moving bodies. The neon, the lights, the lasers.

The scent of industrial strength cleaner mingling with rubber. The clang of iron striking iron. The sweat beading on my forehead, dripping onto my glasses.

Armed with steady breath and wide awareness, every doorway is a portal deeper into the marrow of life’s bones. Every room becomes a poem waiting to be experienced.

And so life feels like a leaf floating down a stream, surrendered to life’s flow, entirely at peace with whatever arises. There’s no need to fear the rocks, the sticks, the fish, the critters and the crawlers. What’s to be done other than meet them as they come?

When you give yourself to life’s current, wholly and truly, momentum will do the rest. 

But… You. Must. Let. Go.

Trust in the unfolding of your path.

Release the futile need for certainty.

Set aside the quest to contrive outcomes.

For a leaf cannot float merrily down the stream while looking over its shoulder, fearing what might bubble up from the depths, clutching at the shore for comfort.

The current sets the pace. 

The stream knows the destination. 

So float.

And enjoy the ride.

With love from the Austrian hills,

~ Alexander