Alone on the River

It was beautiful on the river this morning. The water was as calm as its been in a long time, even though it is still pretty muddy from all the rain we have had. I have not been able to get a glimpse of the riverbed - except for a brief one when I emerged by the boat launch.

I paddled today with a minimum of effort, and once more found myself heading upstream in the middle of the river...Humm....

I watched a blue heron fly over me - and then slowly and gracefully amble its way along the banks of the first island I tend to paddle towards. When I rounded the corner of the island and reached that place between islands and straddling two states that I love, I saw a much younger heron perched on the corner, surveying the river upstream...

As I floated for a while, I reflected on how it has nearly been a year since I bought Grace, my kayak, and came into the river, very unexpectedly, after nearly a year of meditating by its banks. My journey began with me sitting by a bench for about nine months, followed by meditating a footprint away from the water as I sat on a rock. The river beckoned - urging me to come inside - and almost days later I was in the water, without ever having planned to do so or having imagined it in my wildest dreams. I simply heard the voice of the river calling me soul to soul, and I could not resist it...

My experiences on the river can all be distilled into an incredible spiritual journey. The river and its inhabitants have been witnesses to all that has unfolded within me, and they have been the harbingers of messages that have yielded many a sacred insight...

Reflections of recent meditations, prayers, and writings I have been gestating collided in my mind - bleeding into each other - in a virtual symphony of such rich interior experiences that simply eludes articulation...

I enjoyed every moment on that river this morning - entering into every fleeting second as fully as I could. I thought of the three brief quotes I posted on Twitter this morning, so emblematic of my own life lessons:

"It's never too late - in fiction or in life -
to revise."
- Nancy Thayer

"It's never too late
to be what you might have been."
- George Eliot

"Until you make peace with who you are,
you'll never be content with what you have."
- Doris Mortman

Simple lessons - and very complex ones have been learned on this river that have changed the course and direction of my life and soul. And as I drove out of the park, a blue bird flew out in front of me as an exclamation of joy and I recalled lessons learned from Rumi as well:

"Love is the bottomless
ocean of life..."