A new home. New neighbourhood. New patterns of being.
Ellie and I have developed a new routine -- one she is extremely happy with! Whereas in the past, I would awaken, make coffee, write, take her for a walk around the block and get on with my morning, this new neighbourhood has shifted my morning routine.
At the end of our block, much to Ellie's delight, is an off-leash area. Like a siren calling sailors home, the off-leash calls Ellie every morning to come gambol along the hillside. No longer content to just lie in wait for me to finish my morning routine, Ellie paces in the kitchen, her eyes pleading with me to skip the coffee, forgo the computer and instead, start my day with a breath of fresh air as my morning wake-up.
She can be rather insistent, persistent and resistant to my attempts to tell her to lie down and wait. With the tenacity of a kid asking 'are we there yet?', Ellie prances back and forth from kitchen to front door, willing me to pick up her leash. I've decided its best to relent. Wake-up, coffee, walk. Writing comes after. I'm glad I've changed my routine.
Once outside, Ellie is like a kid anticipating summer holidays. Nose lifted, tail raised in full Golden Retriever alert, she prances down the street towards the park, pulling me behind her. Once the off-leash area is reached and she is released from the restrictions of her leash, she races off to sniff and explore all the new sights and smells this park has to offer. And I get to delight in her enthusiasm and in the spectacular views laid out before me.
What a beautiful way to start my day! Smiling. Laughing. In awe of what nature and man has created. Reminded by Ellie's enthusiastic embrace of her freedom of the pure joy of being alive, and free.
From the top of the ridge, I witness the world's awakening. To the east, the sun splits the cloud strewn sky with streaks of pink and gold and umber. A painters palette of tone on tone, texture and colour merging to create a priceless painting that I capture in my mind's eye and hold gently in awe in memory's thrall. To the south, breaking daylight glints off the gleaming glass towers of the city skyline. Each building rises in defiance to gravity, competing with the next to touch the sky. And to the west, the serrated ridge of the Rockies sprawl across the horizon, their crenellated sides and spiky ridges rolling north and south like a sleeping dragon awaiting the sun's warmth to awaken it.
I walked the ridge this morning and took a deep, satisfying breath of cold, crisp air. What an amazing morning to be alive.
Every move, whether from the couch to the kitchen, one side of the city to another, or across the country, or around the world, opens up opportunity for patterns to shift, horizons to expand, opportunities to abound. This morning, as I stepped into my day, I am reminded that in every door closing behind me, I step into a new world of different vistas, new sights and exciting new patterns waiting to unfold. Clinging to old routines when moving into new neighbourhoods keeps me stuck in walking through my day looking for the same results I got yesterday.
Life's too short for same old same old. It's up to me to awaken to the unexpected and leap into my day as if every moment counts 100% towards my happiness. Truth is, it does!
The question is: Where are you stuck walking through the same door, looking for the same sights and sounds?
No comments:
Post a Comment