Walking Meditation

Two things I do regularly can easily get my blood flowing, increase my concentration, and give me a boost to good feelings. One is simple— I take a nice walk. The other, meditation, takes time and needs practice but has great effects every time. I’ve discovered it’s easy to put the two together. It’s different than just plain walking, and it’s different than seated meditation. Walking meditation is controlled, thoughtful, and focused. It’s easy to learn, and likely takes a lifetime to master. However, “master” is not the right term for meditation since its really about process or practice and not  about mastery. If you’d like to learn how to do walking meditation, go to this article Walking Meditation Basic Techniques I wrote for the website www.SimpleTens.com.

I use the walks to practice my posture corrections, get my breathing going good, and for getting clear in the head. It helps me to relax all my tight back, neck, and head muscles. And it feels so good.

O, Sweet Nature in Balance

The topic of this blog has always been about nature. I feel strong connections to nature and seek out ways to bring it into my life. I do botanical illustration, as well as other art. For the last couple of years, the art has been the biggest focus, if not sole focus of my life. Well, that kind of singular focus leads to an unbalanced way of living. So now I am trying to get back to a balanced life. One which involves many different kinds of activities and people. Work, travel, the arts (music, poetry, art, dance), relationships, exercise, eating well, and nature. Those are all the things that will help to create a sense of balance and fullness of life. Joy, friendship, love, play, accomplishments of many kinds are all a part of it. To all my faithful followers who have been reading O, Sweet Nature for the art tips, this blog will expand out to other topics that I hope you will enjoy as well. I like things small, compact, organized (and natural) and so I will be writing about how to live simply. A simple, balanced, life. That's the goal.

Save Your Local Turtle

Save Your Local Turtle

Found a box turtle strolling along the street while I was out walking the dog. At first, I didn't want to move it, just to look at it and enjoy it. But despite the intelligence of turtles, I don't think it would understand how to avoid the wheels of cars. It was just outside the solid wood fence around the pond, so I'm sure it came from there. With all the rain we've been having I bet it came out to try to find a dry spot to sun itself. Unfortunately, there weren't any gaps in the fence that it could have crawled back easily. I hope it didn't have a place it meant to go to, because I picked up and carried it back inside. The only gate was not too far away, and I walked it a ways off the common trail so that it could rest undisturbed. Are you happy now, Mr. Turtle?

I'm back in the saddle, again. O, Sweet Nature is on a roll! Look for future posts about ways to link nature with simple, balanced living.