I Did Not Wake Up Today Expecting To Be Amazed

 

I woke up this morning at 6:15 to make my daughter a strong cup of black coffee before she drove off to take a difficult professional exam for her area of expertise.

 

I did not wake up today expecting to be amazed.

 

We’re at a hotel somewhere in Oregon near a testing center.  

 

Nearby attractions are an airport,  a multitude of car dealerships, a variety of mid-range hotels, and a Denny’s.

 

Not my idea of amazing.

 

Before I taught my 10:30 Friday zoom yoga and movement essentials class I took Vida for a walk. She needs exercise as much as I do – it’s like breathing for us.

 

We walked out of the parking lot onto a busy road because there is no such thing as a not busy road near this hotel.

 

I veered into the parking lot of the Oregon State Treasury building next door because I saw what looked like a walking path along a creek.  

 

Turns out it’s Mill Creek and the path is only about ⅛  of a  mile long, but I quite enjoyed being by moving water and seeing trees.

 

This little veer off by the creek took approximately 5 minutes.  Simply not enough for either of us, so back out to busy urban environment.

 

We passed medical buildings, more hotels, the National Guard center, and the local jail. 

 

I wasn’t necessarily disappointed because, well, my expectations were pretty low to begin with.

 

I was practicing noticing any bits and pieces of nature in this very industrial, urban, noisy environment. 

 

And I was practicing being like Vida.

 

Vida seems engaged when she walks – smelling, looking, listening, sensing things.   

 

V probably doesn’t think  “gosh this doesn’t even compare to the Deschutes river path we normally walk on”.  

 

She’s pretty content to be out moving through the world on a long walk anywhere. 

 

Content.

 

In yoga there is a concept called “santosa”. 

 

Santosa is one of the 5 niyamas.  The niyamas are the disciplinary rules of personal practice that Patanjali provides in the Yoga Sutras.

 

I am not a yoga philosophy educator. Not even close.  I grock some of it, but I’ve spent my life and career studying human movement and am drawn to exploring the asana part of yoga.

 

So what I know about santosa or any of the niyamas is actually quite small in comparison to what I know about how the shoulder complex functions.

 

However, I understand that santosa is often translated as “contentment”.  

 

I’ve always been drawn to this niyama because contentment seems like a very different animal than chasing happiness.  

 

Chasing happiness is a bit elusive for me.

 

With my personality, it typically means I’m using something to make myself feel happy for a brief period of time until that wears off and then I’m back to chasing. 

 

But, contentment…

 

Contentment is a practice unto itself.  

 

It’s a practice of accepting things as they are whether I am happy about them or not. 

 

There is a certain surrender required for experiencing contentment.  A choice to see the glass as half full.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe that we can do a lot to change the world, our lives, one another’s experiences and that we don’t have to accept child abuse, Russia’s war on Ukraine, or people going without food and housing.

 

It’s just that contentment asks me to be with what is before I make choices that require stepping forward, speaking my mind, or taking action against something that I feel is morally wrong.

 

I can’t do the good work for anyone until I’m in a place of accepting what is, a certain ease with my emotions, a place of contentment.

 

I think it’s hard to be amazed unless I am coming from a place of contentment. 

 

So, knowing that I was going to be urban walking today in a part of town that was starkly grey industrial, I went out into the cold armed with the idea of “how can I be content with this type of walk?”.“

 

I practiced noticing all the bits and pieces that weren’t loud, that weren’t urban, that might be quite dirty, but also full of beauty. 

 

See the placement of the word “practice”?  

 

I do this practice regularly when walking – use my senses to notice and have an ongoing conversation with the Universe – “oh look at that green spot of grass”, “the waterfall feature is making a lovely sound”, “the birds are singing”, “the sky has so many clouds”…..

 

Vida is a good role model for this.  

 

We were almost back to our mid-range hotel as a huge bird flew over my head carrying a very large stick.

 

Cars were speeding by, it was still grey, it was still noisy.

 

But I was totally stunned when I realized I was watching an eagle fly overhead towards the pathway I had walked on earlier by Mill Creek.  If you’ve had the pleasure of watching an eagle fly over your head, it is awesome, breathtaking, and amazing!

 

V and I veered over to the Mill creek path again.

 

For an hour or more I had practiced being with what is, practicing contentment in the moment of urban interference, surrendering to a noisy walk.

 

My senses were fairly honed in on noticing, on being present.

 

I missed it on the first go round of the Mill Creek path as I headed off on the urban walk, but there it was – the eagle had landed in its nest!  (look closely at the photo at the beginning of this post and you can see its white head popped up over the edge)

 

I imagine that stick was brought home to add some structure to the nest.

 

I stopped and watched. 

 

Would I have missed this if I hadn’t been practicing the noticing and contentment? 

 

Maybe.

 

An eagle nesting in the trees surrounding a creek with an industrial world impinging.

 

An eagle building a home in a tree near a hotel right outside the Oregon State Treasury building.

 

Finding its own acceptance of its circumstances and making the best of it – maybe seeing the glass as half full…..

 

I was amazed.

 

I didn’t wake up thinking I’d be amazed today, but I practiced being present, accepting and content, putting my right foot in front of my left foot, and I think this opened me up to be amazed by a gift of nature.