It’s time for a “Down Day,” a day where I take a break from the world of adventure, sit by the lake in my beach chair, and watch the boats and the trains go by.

I find myself starring out over so many vista’s; lakes, rivers, waterfalls, mountains and canyons.   I feel blessed to have this opportunity; to be in so many different places and see so many different faces; to enter these different worlds; to check in with my inner landscape and see what, if anything, is obstructing the beauty.

I get so very clear, what I like and what I don’t.  I can learn to “embrace it all” but I don’t have to like it!

Matt Kahn, a favorite spiritual teacher says “Whatever Arises, Love That!”  I’m not sure I can love whatever arises, but I can learn to embrace it and accept it.  The loud rumble of the train at 3am, for example.  I don’t know that I can “love that” but I can accept it as part of my experience here.  The State Park is next to the tracks.  So it is!

I also didn’t “love” tons of traffic at Glacier National Park, where every available spot is occupied, every place I go; where the trails are so congested, I spend more time dodging people than appreciating the beauty.  And, after a two mile hike up hill, I arrive at a beautiful, pristine lake, in the mountains, only to find it looks more like a tourist beach in the City with families from Japan, India, Germany, France and all across the U.S..  It was a great cultural experience, for sure, but not really what I was looking for in a forest hike.  The contrast makes me appreciate all the beautiful, quiet hikes I’ve enjoyed in solitude.

I don’t have to “like” every experience, but, I can learn more about myself through them, and I migrate towards the experience I truly love.

Sometimes it is good to have a day of inactivity.  It was a good day!