Thursday Travels: More from the Glasgow Lakes Look-Off Trail

(8 June 2012. Glasgow Lakes Look-Off Trail. Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia.)

During the last Thursday Travels post, M and I were still making our way along the Glasgow Lakes Look-Off Trail.  The trail was getting wetter and wetter as we made our way up and along the highlands plateau.

I don’t really have much to add about the hike other than the images so I think I’ll ramble on about something else today.  I thought about taking on today’s Daily Prompt:

Remember when you wrote down the first thought you had this morning?  Great.  Now write a post about it.

Water on the trail

But my first thought this morning was, “Wow, I look good in that bikini,” and it was based on a dream I had just awoken from in which I somehow found myself back in the body I had when I was twenty years old.  The shame of it all, of course, is that I didn’t appreciate that body at the time.  No matter how thin I was, I dieted.  And dieted. And dieted until my body rebelled and started holding on to weight instead of shedding it.  I’m trying to make up for it now by letting my body know how grateful I am for how well it has supported me, and for all it has done to allow me to experience life.  I’m also trying to take better care of this wondrous miracle known as my body.  Isn’t it amazing how the human body works?  (Go see The Miracle Is You if you don’t believe me.)

It was such a beautiful day.

Anyhow.  I was looking over the NaBloPoMo prompts for March.  The theme for March is Risks and the first prompt asks:

Do you think it’s better to play it safe or take risks?

It was a peaceful day, too.

I know it’s not yet March, but the question is interesting.  I want to be the type of person who takes risks.  I really do.  I’d like to be able to go skydiving or bungee jumping, or take a long drive or hike on my own, or pursue some type of career as an artist/photographer.  There’s a long list of things I might do if only I could take that first step, if only I would take the risk.

In a really beautiful place.  (See what’s happening with the trail?)

But in reality, I tend to play it safe.  Almost always.  I dream of risks, but live in my comfortable spaces.

Oh good. Another dry patch. We can keep going.

It is our very fear of the future that distorts the now that could lead to a different future if we dared to be whole in the present.

~ Marion Woodman

Stopping to admire the flowers

I have accepted there are some things I won’t do in this lifetime.  Jumping out of an airplane is certainly one of those things.

Don’t worry. That’s not the trail.

Fear keeps us rooted in the past.  Fear of the unknown, fear of abandonment, fear of rejection, fear of not having enough, fear of not being enough, fear of the future — all these fears and more keep us trapped, repeating the same old patterns and making the same choices over and over again.  Fear prevents us from moving outside the comfort — or even the familiar discomfort — of what we know.  It’s nearly impossible to achieve our highest vision for our lives as long as we are being guided by our fears.

~ Debbie Ford

The bones of a tree

The good news is that over the past several years, I have been stepping outside of my comfort (or discomfort) zones, trying new things, and coming to terms with some of my fears.  The challenges I’ve taken on as part of my blogging career here at Life in the Bogs have helped me find the courage to watch, learn about, and accept my fears rather than resist or try to bully my way through them.  I think it was Krishnamurti who said that resistance does not end fear.  It’s only when we take the time to get in touch with our fears that we can move on from them.

Bungee jumping might not be on my agenda for the future, but there are other possibilities, other new things to try and new places to explore.  And some of them just might involve risks of some kind.  Actually, I already know that some of them will mean taking a chance.  The risks will be worth it because the gains will be great.  (Did you know that the thesaurus lists the word “possibility” as a synonym for “risk?”)

This is the trail.  And the water is getting deeper.

I think it’s time for us to leave the Cape Breton Highlands, and move back into the present.  Thank you for stopping in and joining me on another hike from the past in the Canadian Maritimes.  For those interested in such things, it’s snowing here in the Bogs today.  We might get an inch of accumulation at most so it won’t be good for skiing or building snow people or taking a ride down the sledding hill.  That’s too bad.  I was hoping for at least one last run down the hill or ski excursion in the woods before winter is replaced with spring.

It looks like it’s time to turn around.  The trail isn’t getting any better.

Have a delightful day, evening, night… wherever and whenever you are on the spectrum of time.  🙂

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

~ e. e. cummings

Heading back

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