Stop, Breathe, Be present

I sat on a rock, high above Medicine Park and the edge of Lake Lawtonka. I could hear the  gentle inhale and exhale of the wind across the boulders and cedars. I stopped; no photographing, no speaking, just listening and being.

It was the cure I had been looking for.  I watched as the morning slowly unfolded, the pale sun across the horizon, a few isolated cars on roads disappearing into the horizon. I drank in the silence and solitude like someone in the desert would drink that first gulp of water.

The boulders all around me were brightly colored with yellow and green lichen. The few people that had made the trip up the hill by bike or on foot watched in awe, each in their own space. I was intoxicated with the amazing sound of rushing wind.

There's a moment when you are just so pleased to be where you are. It doesn't happen often that you realize where you are and fully take in the moment.

Taking a full, deep breath seems such a simple normal thing but how many of you can remember being present and taking that deep breath. Life seems to be too fast, too insistent on attention, we keep ourselves occupied, never realizing we are breathing, never mind feeling present and enjoying the place we are.

It was the recharge that I've been missing. Almost like air to the lungs, sometimes we just need to simple breathe and be, even if it's just for a moment on a mountain somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma.

I offer a challenge-you've got twelve months. Do a recharge, once a month, go somewhere, stop and take a deep breath and experiencing being. It will make a world of difference, this is the start of a series of monthly recharges, stay tuned.