"WALKIES" - Not floating yet.

The morning quiet at home can go from lovely and calm to a high level of excitement with just one word - "Walkies!".    Suddenly a yawning dog still curled in her blanket is wide awake, barking and running to the front door.  I love the commotion of it all...it makes me smile.

Going for a morning walk with my dog Molly is an activity I treasure....more than ever now that the 6 month sailing cruise is getting closer and closer and closer.  As I strengthen my resolve to take this plunge - so to speak - and sail through unknown waters - for us anyway - I'm trying to focus on the things that allow me to experience a state of Mindfulness.  With all the lists and, "what ifs", and "WTF am I doing" going on in my head right now its good to have some time to just BE.

This is what getting out the door looks like .....

As I get ready Molly follows me to every room, just to make sure I haven't left without her and I'm moving as fast as possible.  I can't even go to the toilet without being supervised.  I know women with small children experience this constantly...but does my dog really need to be watching!

When we finally make it out the door Molly pulls ahead on the lead intent on sniffing every piece of grass and tree trunk.  Someone we used to know said in doing this she was, "checking her emails"...   'Who's been here since yesterday', 'what's been going on', and 'did another dog have the audacity to pee where I peed!'  And then the re-marking begins.  I'm always amazed that my little dog can have enough pee inside her to mark all 3.5 kilometres of our morning walk!  A miracle of nature.

About halfway through the walk we come to the BIG HILL!  It may not look like much in the picture but its quite steep and I like to do it 'power walking' style.  So I let go of Molly's lead and we power up it together with me never stopping or slowing down until I reach the top. 

Our hill.

Back to Mindfulness.  I've been reading a book recommended to me called, "The Mindfulness Breakthrough...A Revolutionary Approach to Dealing with Stress and Anxiety".   The book states that - when we are being mindful, we are choosing to notice the details of our experiences , just as they are  in the moment without judging or trying to change them in the first instance.  As a control freak this is where I come unstuck - especially on the boat and dealing with Mr G.  There are exercises all through the book teaching you to stop, breathe, and experience what's going on...just to notice....not control, or change, or manage.

So I worked at it in our walk yesterday and these are the things I discovered and enjoyed and saw when I didn't have the constant mind noise going on in my head.

My neighbour has a beautiful garden!

A rainbow lorikeet looking out from a grevillea bush... not afraid of Molly and me and certainly
not leaving his meal just because we were passing. 

A beautiful, huge, stunning gum tree at the bottom of our street that had just finished shedding its bark.

And the tibouchina trees just starting to bloom.

Lovely walk.  I intend to keep practising this Mindfulness thing and hopefully it will help me get through the coming times on the boat - at night - in the dark - with the wind blowing in the rigging.  Times when I would much rather be at home in my bed!