Stepping out into a New Year...

As glad as I was to see 2009 end, I’ve been tentative about posting something here to start off 2010.

You see, I’m not really sure where I am going just yet.

By 44, I certainly expected to have a clear road map of where I was headed and what was expected of me, yet so often these days, I feel as if I am just making the plan up as I move through each day.

Considering the upheaval in Haiti right now and the pain that one of Nick’s former principals is going through now that she knows her husband is dead instead of missing, maybe that isn’t such a bad way to live.

Live each day with a sense of adventure and a sense of hope.

The world is not always a safe place - the ground can shake... parents can die... economies can collapse.

Then school children donate life savings... strangers help each other... artists create wonders that stir our souls... songs move us to tears... a hug makes the day much brighter... people pull together to make things better and the path opens up again, ripe with possibilities and enticing destinations.

Don’t worry about how closely you follow the plan of where you think you should be.  Spend today appreciating where you are, finding one thing you can change for the better and take the first baby steps in that direction.

A brand new year of possibilities is waiting....

Musings From A Morning Walk...

I was only mildly disappointed that the phone didn’t ring before 7 am with a substitute teaching job this morning.  After all, it is only the second week of school here and not many teachers are sick yet.  I also have plenty to do getting ready for the CreativFestival in Toronto next month, so I had plenty to fill my day.

I did, however, start the morning with an hour’s walk in Mapleton Park which begins at the foot of our street.  At 6’5”, I am less afraid to walk in the park alone than some of my friends during daylight hours. I make a point of not wearing headphones, carrying a cellphone and staying to the main paths.  There are also few people on this planet who can keep up to my long natural stride without breaking into a run, so I truly enjoy walking at MY pace.

I was musing over what I had learned with the Doodle exercise for my Inhaling Creativity blog when it suddenly struck me.  My walks in the woods alone accomplish the same thing for my body that doodling does for my brain!  My lungs are pumping in and out, my feet are moving and I am staying on a fairly wide path, so my brain is able to detach a bit and think things through, just like when I am doodling - the hands are busy playing but the brain gets to wander ever so slightly and creative ideas can spring forth.

I also tend to carry a camera with me in case I see something interesting that will illustrate what I plan to blog about, need to take a reference shot for an illustration or see some colours that I want to find floss equivalents for.  Today’s walk was a bit of all 3.

Paths can be a wonderful metaphor for our lives.  Sometimes, the path we are meant to take can seem so clear that it is almost blinding...

Other times our lives are a blend of shadow and dappled sunshine along the way...

There are also people, events and moments that come into our lives like beacons or some elusive white stag that we chase...

and I also spotten my first Type A personality, overachieving tree trying to be the first one to turn colours!

So the next time you walk down a path, no matter where you are, take a moment to really look at it to see if it mirrors where you are in your life right now or where you would like to be.

But watch out for tree roots and rocks...  I looked pretty silly stumbling when my mind wandered a bit too far!