Tuning In

A few days ago I posted about my intention to do a Grand Canyon hike in 2014.  The thought to do this seemed to come "out of the blue" one evening, but immediately seemed more like a decision than an option.

There's a yoga class on Friday at work that I go to when I can.  During the class, another man who I know, and who is a regular in the class, was having a problem with one of his feet hurting.  The instructor, Sheree, helped him out.  After the class, the conversation continued, and as I walked past I heard them talking about the Grand Canyon.

As it turns out, Dan is going for a hike there in April, and Sheree has been there as well on various adventures.  So I joined the conversation for a bit and got some useful information and some new ideas to look into.  Now that I'm tuning in to the idea of a Grand Canyon hike, I wouldn't be surprised to find the topic popping up in other places that I wouldn't have expected.

Awareness is like that.  There are many more things going on all around us than we are aware of, and our minds like to be efficient, which sometimes seems like "lazy."  We settle into our habitual patterns, and our minds ignore the stimuli and information that don't fit its immediate expectation.

There's great richness all around, and we create our experience - either rich or impoverished - by how much we are aware of.  I think this happens a layer down from the conscious mind most of the time.  So things we can do, like meditation, that settle the mind and make it more receptive, increase our ability to tune in to more of the world around us and create a richer experience.