This morning on my daily walk, I decided to take a different path, to push myself a little harder, to see beyond the obvious, to discover what was above the knoll, to go where I have always been planning to go but had not.

I made an agreement with myself to practice seeing all the miniscule things in the environment around me and being present in the moment, free of expectation or worries.

 

What a delight and sense of accomplishment when I made it with such ease to the top and witnessed the world before and below me…The sea spread like a banquet, a boulder island within the reef, rocks jutting up like seals, the sea on her horse leaping over them, swirling in a flirtatious tease.

Every vantage point offered its own reward.

Five months of walking in this area, but never venturing to the ridge, until this morning.

Then ambling through grass waist deep, crisscrossing to avoid thorns, for a moment, wondering if this is an area populated by snakes, but remembering the mongooses must have gotten then all, and now have switched their palates to iguanas, but not me –a person.

Always present death and life — where do they not intersect?

But most present to how satisfying it is to be able to walk, unencumbered, alone, with the sea to one side,  the sun over head and the feel of  sweat gloving my body…