An "Important" Reminder...

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

On my way out the door to the woods far too early this morning, the phone rang.  Reluctantly I answered.  It was "business".  Something "important" to do, more than one something actually.  With a sigh, I "had to" stay. 

Before long, the computer froze.  I had to restart it.  Then I found myself printing and printing and printing the same "important thing" multiple times, a form to fill out by hand.  My hand wasn't working so well, so I had to redo it.  And redo it.  And redo it.  And redo it.  (About 6 times of redoing!  And each time, I had to reprint it again.) After enough "important" iterations, the printer jammed and stopped altogether.

We can choose to let "the important" be told to us.  Or we can choose to decide what is actually The Important.

The instant I decided I needed to leave, the printer cleared, and within just a few minutes, the form was completed and sent.  There was another task waiting, something also "important".

I left anyway. 

I stood by the stream a long while.  There is only one place where I find my way down to the stream.  It's not a spectacular view there, not particularly.  Most people pass the spot without even looking, as you can't see the water at all from the trail.  I could sit there for hours, listening and listening...some views are meant to be heard more than seen.  And the more that you hear, the more that you see...

As I "listened" today, something came through....out of the blue, there it was...the very thing left undone...I wrote it by the stream, no printer required, "office space" provided by Earth, Unincorporated, on lease in a far different sort of a way.

Breathing again, I took to the trail, the weight of "the important" so very much lifted, the knowing of what is truly Important made abundantly clear....We often forget, but The Important reminds us.

Near the river, I saw her, a bit in the distance.  

The woman with a walker.  

A companion patiently, cheerfully walked along by her side.  At least a half a mile in, bundled up for the cold, what appeared to be a very old woman made her way step by step, her walker miraculously sound on a path filled with rock.

It seemed I wasn't "late" after all, my walk perfectly timed.

We so often think we must rush our way through our lives, "the important" stealing our very best moments away.  We don't need to rush.  Our Hearts know the pace.  We are fully supported every step of the way.

In the forest I stopped off the path to do some more "work".  And then I heard laughter winding its way through the trees.  There she was with her mother - a child of no more than three, joyously stomping through golden leaves at her feet.  I imagined her bringing smiles to the woman with the walker, this dear lady it seems not yet making it to the woods.

Losing track of the time by the river, I eventually got to the end of the trail.  Guess who was sitting on a bench at the viewpoint?  The woman with the walker, enjoying her lunch.  She looked to be in her mid-80's at least!  Young, old and everywhere in between, we had chosen together on this unusually cold day.

Life is astonishing if we allow it to Be.  We can choose to hear and see Beauty, breathe as much as we can, every day, every moment, from beginning to end.  Today I was reminded of what's truly Important.  (Yes, perhaps next time I'll take along my lunch too!)