"The miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on the earth." Thich Nhat Hahn

Our oldest son has been home from college for a few weeks this summer. This is always a delight to have him with us in his ever-emerging adult self and to reconnect as a family. This summer he brought with him his newest friend, Boone, a black lab-Great Dane mix. To say that this has introduced new energy to our household would be an understatement. This sweet, still-puppy personality, wakes up ready to embrace the day, running through the house, chasing our cat, leaving everything in his path a little askew. His presence has provided great lessons for me in patience, letting-go, and the gift of unconditional love, of which he seems to be filled to overflowing.

But possibly one of the greatest gifts Boone has brought to our house is the fact that he needs to go for walks. Several walks a day. He needs to stop what he is doing…sleeping, eating, playing, harassing the cat, and go for a walk. And since he cannot do this on his own, we humans must tag along.

On these walks we are treated to lessons in living in the present moment. What is that smell? Was that a squirrel? Shouldn't I chase it? What is that thing sticking up out of the grass? What was that singing noise coming from the tree? Who threw that nut at me? There's a ball, shouldn't we play? You get the picture. And because one of the humans has the lease on which he is tethered, we have the opportunity to be present to all these questions, these experiences as well. Our outings become a wake up call to the gift of walking on the earth.

There is a practice of walking meditation that many people find very helpful. This way of walking is done slowly, noticing how our foot flexes, rolls, and moves with each placement on the ground. With the noticing of the foot's movement, you can become aware of how each body part moves in connection to the others, how our breath supports the walking, the balance it takes to actually do this very normal, necessary, function. Walking meditation opens us to not only the way the body moves, breathes and has motion, but also all the sounds that we hear, the smells that waft up from the path on which we travel. In these summer days, I offer this description to you as something you might try to further savor the joy of walking.

Walking with Boone is not the slow pace of walking meditation. But it does bring with it the sheer joy of being present in a world so full of simple pleasures…..the sweet scent of dirt, the quick, courageous movement of squirrels, the giddiness of rolling around in  soft, green grass. All in all I am thankful for all he has taught me during his month of summer camp at our house.

The next time you take yourself out for a walk, I invite you to notice the dogs that may be on your path. Check in with yourself. Are they having more fun that you are? If it seems so, I invite you to follow their lead and open yourself to the present moment. Who knows what  might be encountered when we walk through the world, at least for a few moments, with the eyes and the heart of a dog?

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