Over the Weekend
On Saturday I went and played Kickball for the first time since Elementary school. You might not think the game is very athletic, but when you only have four people on each team you end up either running around the bases or running for the ball 24/7 for 9 innings. Lets just say you can really feel it in your legs afterward. I also did a one hour walking meditation Saturday night.
Walking meditation is one of the few meditations I've kept up with. I choose a direction and just start to walk. Sometimes I wander for a few minutes, and other times I walk for hours. After awhile, any depressive feelings I have begin to ebb away, and my mind empties of all thought. At that point, I get to a point where I feel the world around me more than myself, and I know it is ok to turn around and go home.
During these walks it seems like my mind turns from inward to outward, and it becomes easier to notice the beauty in the world around me. For instance, last night I wandered by North Chollas Community Park, and found that the architect incorporated all sorts of waves into the sidewalk running along the outside. The pavement has occasional wavy lines stamped into it, the sidewalk itself rolls to and fro in different directions rather than moving in a straight line, and there are also random gardens with wave motifs at various points along the way. They also let all sorts of wild desert fauna and bushes grow on both sides of the sidewalk, so it feels like you drunkenly wandering through the woods at night. (It's probably the closest I've felt to WWC in quite some time;) Wild rabbits periodically will dart out in front of you,sometimes even in packs, and they chitter in the bushes as you walk past. It's amazing how many little things seem majestic and magical when you just take an hour out of the day to pull yourself out of your own head.
On Sunday I finally made it out to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to try out their new zip line. It's the second largest zipline in America (Alaska's is larger) at just under 1 mile. You have to ride a bus to the top of a hill outside the park, which is 900 ft above sea level. You then walk out onto a tall metal spear where the ziplines attach to. The ziplines run over three separate areas of the park, so you can get a birds eye view of various animals from all over the world. Overall I would say it was very fun, but I wish it could have lasted longer. Typically the ride takes 1 - 2 minutes to complete depending on your weight and the wind.