sand dune arch region
Day 2
It was Sasha, my youngest, quintuple Taurus daughter, who taught me to abandon trying to get somewhere. I used to hike so as to arrive at the destination. Sasha and I went on a snowing hike in Mt. Rainier National Park. We took an hour to cover one hundred meters. Partly because she was young, but mostly, we were already there and there was nowhere to go and nothing to do.
No-where to go.
No-thing to do.
This aphorism from Zen can sum up the get wealthy first strategy.
Now, Sasha, Suzanne and I are in Arches National Park. Every step we take is a step in heaven. Everywhere we look is a view of heaven. Where can we go that would be any better? We have already arrived.
Can you do that where you are right now? That’s the point of Get Wealthy First.
Travel to places like Arches, can restore your memory of what heaven looks like.
TIP: Heaven has more to do with the eyes you look through than what they rest upon.
Tip 2: You will find it easier to see heaven when you’re outdoors than indoors.
We have been enjoying the tracks of kangaroo rats, lizards, fox; the sounds of finches in the canyons and the wind in Raven’s wings as he passes over.
Day 3
Nothing special today.
But this is the nothing special that this pilgrimage is all about. Suzanne was called to Arches. Most of our sabbaticals and travel starts with a calling. We ask, “What’s calling me.”
We’re both aware that we are aging and we don’t have any time to go where we aren’t called. Said differently, where do we want to go before we die.
Today’s hike will be the easiest one of the journey, less than a quarter of a mile, one half a kilometer. It’s a hike into deep stillness.
It’s called Sand Dune Arch.
Suzanne reports people walking in and saying,
“Is that it?”
“Yep.”
Taking the photo and leaving.
I stood in this place in silence until time stopped and only stillness remained. People came and went. The stillness deepened.
Sasha took photos.
Suzanne communed.
We enjoyed the tracks of the kangaroo rats in the sand.
Amen.
***
I try to live day to day this same way. “What’s calling me today.”
What’s calling you?
Day 4
Sasha has named Suzanne the Lizard Queen.
Why? Because Sasha notices people’s gifts. On today’s hike in Arches, Suzanne led us to see lizard after lizard. We watched a Whip Tailed lizard with turquoise head digging in the sand like a terrier after some delicious meal.
You might not like lizards, so this might not be a good thing for you. Being with critters and discovering sign and spoor makes our day. It is deep wealth for us.
To see these things and be permitted to observe for minutes, your mind has to be QUIET. You have to listen to the stillness under the outer quiet. Listen to the stillness underneath the outer noise.
Fix this sentence it jerks As I stood in stillness, I was treated to two women with English accents relate the bathroom habits of their party the night before and their theories of getting up in the middle of the night to attend to peeing and such for a full minute, maybe two, before they hove into view around the trail curve. They continued to talk as they walked by me and up over the hill still talking.
Heaven is not a place. It’s an awareness.
I travel with the Lizard Queen and her daughter in Heaven.
I find it easier to practice “Being in Heaven” in what I deem to be beautiful spots. This practice makes it possible to be in heaven anywhere, just as the two women traveled in a kind of mundane hell in the middle of what the guide book calls one of the best hikes in the entire national park system.
With whom do you travel?
Happy Trails,
William
Uncategorized Arches Nationl, commune with nature, presence
