Still waiting for revelation

One of the things I expected to happen is that my thoughts would become deep and insightful. We spend a lot of time in silence when we are walking. I often talk to God Sometimes I am praying for family, friends, and the people I have met along the way. Sometimes I am just talking to God looking to converse with him as if He was my buddy walking beside me. In the midst of my having intentional thoughts, my mind wanders all over the place.

I am use to my mind wandering. In fact, I would say I am use to my mind racing. At home, there is so much happening everyday. Many decisions to make on a daily basis between home and Attuned Mind. I can go from 6:30 AM to 8:30 PM and wonder where the day went and wish I had a few more hours to attempt finishing all that I would like to accomplish.

Out here, the decisions are few and simple. Many mornings we will say to each other,
"What do you want to do today?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about we go for a walk?"
"Okay"

Then we proceed to pack up our camp. We put on the same pants we have worn since March 30, put on one of two shirts, socks, and underwear (decision made based on cleanest and driest in the moment) Mark makes sure we have water, I take down the bear bag, tent is put away and we begin our walk around 7 AM. We follow the white blazes headed North. We never know where we will end for the day other than a vague outline of what we think would be a good idea. However, we know our bodies and the terrain will determine our destination where we will follow the same routine each night to set up camp.

As you can see, there is not much to think about for the ten hours we are putting one foot in front of the other. This is where I was expecting great thoughts. Here are my typical thoughts. "How many steps will it take to the top of this mountain? One, two, three.....". On Roan Mountain, I counted 7000 steps before I quit counting. Sometimes an hour will go by and I can't remember having any thoughts. That has never happened to me before. I thought only men were lucky enough to truly have moments of thinking nothing. There are times when we walk and we hear this "snap, crackle, pop" just like when you pour milk on rice krispies. We discovered it is the sound of hundreds of little grasshoppers jumping among the dry leaves as we walk by. Some have green color to them, others red. I can spend hours just watching them hop out of my way. No revelations.

So maybe my mind is beginning to slow down and that is a gift in itself.

Julie