January 1, 2011 | Posted in: Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully

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Happy New Year’s Eve.  I’ve been taking a self-batical from blogging and being plugged in this month. It was a perfec time for a girlfriend getaway and a time for reflection, re-energizing and renewal. A time to re-focus on the future and remind myself of the present journey and the journey beyond.

How I love to renew is outdoors. Sometimes solo and sometimes with great company of people who get it and who get me. It gives me breathing space and a place to connect wit the divine in an organiz way. A place to reconnect with myself and my body and breathing. Although I do my daily morning mileage in my ‘hood, nothing compares to the magnificent, majectic National Parks and outer limits of undisturbed outback to reawaken the senses and lighten the load.

We selected Zion and Bryxe National Parks and Angel’s Landing to be specific.

Although we’re not blood and guts hikers any more, we’re not candy-asses either. What we like is a good challenge for women who are fifty, fit and fabulous! We  encountered at least 31 switchbacks and a smidgen of knife-edge trail 1450 feet above the valley floor. We’re wise enough to know when we’ve reacked our peak experience. Which is to say that it doesn’t necessarily need to be the peak of the mountain to be a peak experience. We’ve earned our wisdom and know when renewal and recharging our batteries turns to regret. We came for enjoyment and enlightenment and not endangerment or encroachment on our comfort. Just enough push to get us out of our usual comfort zone.

No more camping on the ground – we opted for a yummy cabin with a roaring fire and down comforters with a rain water show head with mule deer and wild turkeys frolicking outside our window. We opted for delicious gourmet breakfasts and sumptuous dinners with keoki coffee and ended our tour du outdoors with a decadent spa day and evenings at the theatre on the Vegas strip to see Lion King and a Diva Drag Show. It was a fabulous feast for the senses at all levels.

What I’ve learned is to enjoy this moment, this journey, this adventure right now. We can turn around any time we want, but the great views are reserved for those who climb a little higher than most. What are you doing to enjoy your journey all along the journey? Are you living to enjoy each step and each swtichback? Are you taking time to look back at where you’ve come or are your blinders on to only look forward full speed ahead. We often had to take a break to breathe on our trek to Angels Landing. We also realized we were looking down so much at our footing that we needed to look up and look around and enjoy the view all around us, which included where we’d come from. We celebrated at different points in our journey and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

What are you doing to enjoy yourself along your path before you reach your peak? What if you don’t reach all the way to the top? What if you get very close but not all the way? Will it be OK? Will you re-calibrate once you see what’s up there and make different choices? How will you celebrate? How will you know you’ve arrived?

Let’s take time to celebrate where we’ve been, how far we’ve come and where we are right now. Let’s not wait until the absolute pinnacle and just toil away while we’re getting there. Take a breath, breath in the fresh air, look around, look up, look back and look ahead too. As I learned while backpacking for 30 days in the Colorado wilderness with Outward Bound, it’s not where you go on the map that matters, it’s where you go in your head as you travel that matters. How are you clearing your head and making room for better things, clearing your schedule to make room for you and clearing your path to make room for your journey? Happy New Year!!