Fall distractions

This week’s photo challenge is Fall.  We’re still a few weeks away from peak color here in the Bogs, but there are plenty of changes (and colors) to be found.

It’s cloudy.  There were a few glimpses of sun early, then the clouds dominated the sky.  A fairly big storm system is making its way through here today, tomorrow, and maybe the day after that.  It’s one of those big lows that like to sit and spin around the Great Lakes.

I went out for my walk early in order to beat the rain.  It was easy to find examples of fall.  Leaves changing color, and raining down from the trees when a good gust of wind comes along and sets them free.  Goldenrod and asters blooming in the meadows.  Canada geese honking overhead.  Mushrooms sprouting up under the trees and on the lawn.  Other fungi marching in lines across the spines of decaying logs.  The green of the algae that grows in the pond this time of year.  The scent of wood smoke and rotting vegetation.  All of these things and more are part of autumn in the Bogs.

This morning's view of the pond.

Today is the first day of my new commitments.  (If you missed what those are, you can find the post here.  Scroll down to the mushrooms.)  I did not sleep well last night so this first day of my year-long commitment to practice yoga daily was a little lackluster.

Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).

~ James Baraz

I did twenty minutes of practice with a Rodney Yee DVD (A.M. Yoga for Your Week).  I’ll probably stick with that DVD for at least this week as it will help me ease back in to a regular practice.

There were a lot of distractions over such a short period of time.  The phone rang.  Twice.  The cats decided to fight, hissing and chasing each other around the house until they ended up a few feet away from me, a big bundle of fur and hisses and claws rolling past.  I ignored the phone.  I broke up the cat fight. I felt annoyed.  Irritated.  This was not going well.

I fly buzzed and whined around my head while I was in Savasana, trying to relax and be present.  The fly landed on the right side of my face.  I shooed it away.  I gave up being annoyed and irritated, and had a good laugh.  This was not how I pictured my first day of my new and “serious” commitments to improve my health and well-being.  The joke was on me, the distractions a way of telling me to lighten up and stop taking it so seriously.

The laughter was better than the yoga.  The laughter was the yoga.

I struggled with my morning pages, unable to come up with three pages worth of chatter.  I was distracted by the little birds — goldfinches and bluebirds — feeding on the sunflowers, flying around between the flowers and the spruce trees nearby.  A dog barked.  A rooster crowed.  I stared out the window, watching the birds and enjoying the feel of the morning breeze coming in through the open patio doors.  I heard gunshots.  We must be near (or already in) fall hunting season, and someone is getting in their target practice early, perhaps before heading off to work for the day.

I gave up on words and started trying to sketch the birds, the sunflowers, and the spruce trees.  I’ll have to remember to put some pencils near the moleskine I am using for my morning pages.  Sometimes I just don’t have words, and pictures will have to do.

There was a brief period of time while out on my walk that I didn’t feel distracted.  Out in the woods with the trees and the wind, I was awake and aware.

All in all, not a bad way to start the new commitments.  🙂

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