Just walking the dog...

After a very wet and windy night, the dog and I went for an early morning walk under blue skies and an already warm rising sun; in the west, the pale moon was still visible and still quite high in the sky. Our walk today was on the familiar ground of Long Valley but from a different direction, one that neither of us had taken before. The start of our walk then, offered new horizons and new vistas to wonder at; all within a few hundred yards of the grounds we had both run and walked over many times before. On reaching the high ground we stopped and just gazed at the vast empty space stretching out before us; just the dog and I and no one else. In this crowded corner of southern England, this was indeed a wonder. Now I think about it, I guess we could apply this change of view to many aspects of our daily lives; we all tread the same roads each and every day, never averting our eyes or minds away from the task of the moment and because of this we can become blind to the simple beauty that exists just beside us or just over there. For some strange reason, this 'new experience' in a familiar place reminded me of some lines from a poem written by Rumi, well two lines of it, if I'm honest;

'This being human is a

guesthouse.

Every morning a new arrival'.

The poem in full then...

The Guest House

-Rumi

This being human is a guesthouse.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.