Meaningful Goals.

Homeward Bound.

A friend expressed shock when I said that I walked no matter what the weather. It seems to be that if I paid attention to the weather too much it would be a bit like the queen only smelling fresh paint. No matter where she is to visit on the days and weeks running up to the visit there is a massive clean up and everything gets a fresh coat of paint. She must believe she lives in a litter-free society, Little does she know the reality of how badly the countryside is so often treated.

Yesterday morning lying on the woodland track was the remains of a turkey carcass. Somebody now finished with it thought it was a good idea just to throw it into the woodland.

There is something special about seeing nature in all its phases and changes. Rain brings its own pleasures and surprises. To spot a little primrose in bloom in December when the cold frost and wind was doing it's very best. To watch a mother deer making sure her two offspring are getting fed in even the very worst of days.

It is not the weather that concerns me, it is often what I see we are doing to the wonder of our world. Like the rabbit caught up in a pile of discarded nylon chord. Fighting and expending so much energy to try and free itself. Even if it had got free of its own accord it would have died of cold and exhaustion, how pleased I was to be there, in the pouring rain to lend a helping hand.

My neighbour had a dog that also expended needless energy chasing its tail, around and around. Had it not had a caring owner who filled its food bowl every evening I am sure it would not have wasted energy on such fruitless exercise.

Then there was the dog that sat at the gateway of the drive to the house where it lived. It sat patiently waiting for a car to pass then off it went at a great rate of knots barking furiously after the car. I remember asking the owner, "Do you think it will ever be fit enough and fast enough to catch one of those cars?" He looked at me with a smile, "That is not the question I have asked. What bothers me is what he might do if he ever did catch one."

I smile frequently when I remember that little dog running and barking in its endless meaningless pursuit.

We should not laugh, to be honest, rather we should look to ourselves and ask if we have set ourselves equally meaningless goals? How much precious time have we wasted going nowhere and doing something that really did not need doing? 

Learning builds a daily accumulation of knowledge, but the practice of being at one with the spirit of the universe builds daily peace and calm and joy.  To win the world we do not meddle with it and destroy it, we learn to be at one with it.

The great sage once said, “To live a meaningful life, choose meaningful goals.! “

Now I hear the many people who on a regular basis ask me the question, “Why on earth do you get up at 6am every day and go walking even in bad weather?’"

I hope you have a lovely day shared with friends and nature in the pursuit of a worthwhile goal.