This Week’s Practice
Invitation to Play: Try going somewhere new, even if just a different route home, each day for 30 days outside of your norm and notice what new environs awaken in you. Jot down a sentence or two in your journal about what you notice each day before you retire. Read below for the second life-changing part of the experiment.
This article appears in this week’s edition of the Crazy Wisdom Bi-Weekly.
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
-Oliver Wendall Holmes
This summer I tried an experiment to expand my horizons by going to a new place everyday for 30 days. The technique, suggested by a Tibetan Llama Lena suggested people could shake themselves out of a rut or a funk by stepping outside the confines of their normal mandala, or regular patterns of living. As a nature nut who was walking the same neighborhood path each day, I headed her counsel and adapted the practice to include visiting a new park or nature spot each day—outside my “mandala.” The results were beyond words. For starters, I never knew Ann Arbor had so many incredible nature treasures! Secondly, I could not believe what stepping sometimes just 100 yards down a new path outside of my normal routine could do to wake me up. It expanded my sense of wonder and sheer appreciation for life in all its fullness. As Wendall Holmes says, my life could not go back to its old dimensions after tasting new horizons.
The challenge engaged me in choosing to live more consciously as if I were on a pilgrimage making each moment special and, I felt fully alive. One hot summer day during the experiment, I flung off my shoes and waded in the rapids at Fleming Creek in Parker Mills County Park, attempting not to slip on the smooth rocks lining the shore. I know, it is kind of hard to imagine right now in this arctic blast but I am sure you can recall many of your own sacred moments near or in water and the way it transported you to the precious present moment. I let in the laughter of carefree children and parents picnicking near the creek, felt the whimsy of time stopping as they blew bubbles and thought back to my own childhood. An Irresistible sense of joy and connection forged gathering at the waters. Most of the time I did the experiment alone so I could be fully aware of new experience with heightened senses, but sometimes I went with friends and enjoyed the added benefits of companionship and comparing notes afterward. Never once was I disappointed. Each time a new adventure… How might you step out of your “mandala” or routine this winter? Could it be by driving a different way home each day, going to a different grocery store, sitting in a different seat at your favorite coffee shop or like me finding new ways to enjoy the areas many parks even and especially in the cold of winter. What a way to stretch one’s willingness to wake up!
At each place I visited outside my normal routine whether a park or just a new neighborhood flower garden, according to the Tibetan practice, I was to give thanks for anything and everything I saw I wanted for myself and intend (or pray) out loud that all beings may enjoy the same. What started out of feeling forced and a little wierd ended up transforming into an absolute joyful practice–expanding my heart more than I can say.
I was astounded at the number of times I walked a new neighborhood, visited a new park and wished people all over the world, beautiful flowers, trees, good health and the gift of connection to others. Likewise, almost at every spot, I saw families out for a sunset walk or older couples holding hands strolling in the evening–wishing all beings know love and connection. I faithfully kept the practice for more than 30 days I liked it so much. It indeed pulled me out of my habitual ways of being. It woke me up daily. It made me live intentionally and expanded my horizons beyond thinking of myself. In my heart of hearts, I know I am made of the same essence that is in all of life and each of us. In the absolute sense, I believe in the oneness of all people. What I do to and wish for others, I do to and wish for myself at the deepest level.
The bittersweet unexpected surprise at the end of the experiment was I found out I had to move suddenly outside of Ann Arbor due to unforeseen circumstances from the neighborhood I had grown to love. I ended up choosing to live about 30 minutes outside of the city to surround myself with more open vistas, clear night skies, abundant lakes and new wooded lands. My deepest inspiration all summer had been for all people to feel nourished by natural beauty, vitality and deep connections with others. Over the course of the fall, my connections with others got deeper and richer as I received help coordinating my move, my appreciation for nature grew even stronger as I now marvel at the stars driving home long trek back from Ann Arbor on black moonlit nights. Essentially, I have found myself reaping the blessings of all I had wished for others–never guessing that I was one of the beings I had been praying for all summer!
