Walk with Beauty

This morning, a meditation that I do sometimes, came to mind.

I walk with beauty before me

I walk with beauty behind me

I walk with beauty below me

I walk with beauty above me

With beauty all around me, I walk.

Just to check that I remembered the words correctly, I turned to my friend, Google, and was surprised to discover that this is actually a Navajo prayer and blessing and the lines actually start with “May I….” In fact, this is only a part of it.

All the same, it got me thinking as to why these lines had popped up for me out of the blue. Could it have anything to do with the fact that I had actually “walked with beauty”, very literally, over the weekend?

With lockdown having eased and armed with the two vaccines, we felt more confident to finally embark on a long overdue short break which had been gifted to us almost two years ago. We headed to the Dorset coast and in planning our itinerary, realised that we could make a stop over in the New Forest where we found ourselves surrounded by beauty. The Tall Trees Walk was a gentle loop, through giant seqouias, redwoods, and Douglas firs. In front of us, as well as behind were massive, majestic trunks looming high above us, and fanning out into rich dark greens, creating a cool shade, their heady scent, evoking in me, strangely and ironically, the whiff of air fresheners (says the city girl).

The coast, on the other hand, was hot, (thank you to the sun for coming out and staying put throughout) and the spotless blue sky was reflected in the sea below in shifting shades of shimmering blues and turquoise. I have always yearned for the sea, and sitting on top of a sloping, grassy hillock, overlooking the cove, I drank in the peace and the calm around me.

These post-card scenes were manifestly beautiful. What’s more, I was on a staycation and open to them fully. But “walking with beauty”, I imagine, is meant to be on a day-to-day, maybe even moment to moment basis. To look for the beauty, the positive, in everyday surroundings, chores, people and situations…without judgement… may not come that easily unless one makes it a practice. In the same way that the muscle of gratitude has also to be worked. Not only on the outside but also within…to see the beauty in ourselves, appreciate our strengths, connect with our inner world.

To “walk with beauty” also suggests to me a connecting with others, to be in harmony with ourselves and the universe and I could feel that in nature. One does not question why some leaves are dark and some light, or why some plants have flowers and some don’t. So why do we judge others and ourselves instead of simply accepting what is? Once again a bit more challenging in our chaotic everyday lives.

Truth be told, travelling through changing landscapes and open expanses of countryside, put me into a profound state of gratitude as well. Grateful not only for the beauty surrounding me, but for the whole trip itself, the freedom to be out in the open again, among people, grateful for all the services provided along the way, the continuous and tiring driving taken on by my husband, the indulgent meals, the ideal seaside weather….

It has been said that “it is not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy”. And I was definitely grateful. Even when I was struggling with the slippery, sandy slopes leading to the sights, putting one foot cautiously in front of the other, putting all the pressure on my walking stick. My knees felt that they would give way any time and my whole body ached with the stress on my weak joints. Especially on the ascent which took the wind out of my sails.

I became aware of a shift. Under normal circumstances I might have groaned and felt discouraged with my body. Yet, there I was, pushing through my pain and the terrain, one step at a time, actually glad that I could even walk and proud that I had made it to the points I had set out to see. One of my personal challenges in relation to gratitude has been to feel grateful for my body in spite of aches and pains and illness. It is so easy to focus on the negative and overlook everything else that is in wondrous working order. Yet, I can say from experience that it is in the most trying times that gratitude can transmute the trial.

May you always “walk with beauty”, within and beyond.