The Movement of TIme

Time?  Is it foe or friend?  I guess it depends on your perspective or, maybe it is even more transient.  Your relationship with time could be related to your emotional state.  Now that I'm in my mid-fifties, I find myself obsessed with time.  I guess facing one's mortality makes you think about it more often.  When you're young, you feel invincible however; the arrival of age quickly brings you back to earth.

Aging is a bizarre reality.  Your body begins to move slower, you enter into an interminable battle against your arch enemy - gaining weight, you wake up stiff, and you have to take more breaks on your mountain hikes.  Your mind remains young yet, it must come to terms with its new reality.  Some pretend to remain young with fast cars, young lovers, hip clothes, or a nouveau hair style.  In reality, they're doing nothing more than the proverbial ostrich sticking his head in the sand while hoping the lioness doesn't devour him.  I prefer to see the world anew.

You're always in a hurry when you're young.  You've got places to go and people to see.  It wasn't until I got older that I began to realize just how much I'd missed.  I'm an alpinist and in my youth, I was infatuated with how far or how high I could ascend.  I never stopped to notice the little things along my ascent.  With age, I've come to realize just how much I missed.  Tree bark patterns, the moist beauty of moss on wet granite, the sound of spring runoff, the halo like iridescence of above tree-line spindrift.

The months of September to January find me afield with my Boykin Spaniel.  We went chukar hunting yesterday along the canyon filled flanks of the Deschutes River upstream from Maupin, Oregon.  I began to think about time as we briskly walked from where I'd parked to the canyon's edge.  I decided to really watch my dog.  It was a truly uplifting hunt.  Rather than think about when we'd raise the next covey, I marveled at his work.  He worked the wind with his nose; his bob tail never ceased wagging back and forth; he quartered left to right and back again and, he regularly turned to check on my progress.  Time stood still for him.  He was existing within the parameters of the moment.  As we drove back home, it suddenly dawned on me what my lesson for the day was.

Mental focus stops time.  The key to happiness is an active mind totally involved in the task at hand.  Micro analyze minutia and you'll find the nuance of life.  Maybe on my next hike I should stop more often,take a seat on a luxuriant bed of pine needles and listen to the world.  Who knows, I might learn something.

Autumn Approaches

We're finally into autumn.  September is now here and I'm left wondering, where did summer go?  It seems like it just started yesterday.  I didn't get anywhere near close to completing all of my intended projects.   Hopefully I'm not alone in this regard.  Is it too early to develop a fall list of projects?  Why hurry, soon it will be winter.  Maybe I should simply roll this year's list over into next summer.

Autumn brings hunting season.  I'm an avid bird hunter that relishes in the beauty of watching a bird dog work.  I went out on a casual dove hunt with my Boykin Spaniel yesterday.  His enthusiasm was infectious.  Temperatures hovered in the high 80s and per usual for Oregon, doves were scarce but it didn't matter.  It simply felt great to grasp my trusty Citori Lightning, dog whistle, and bird vest for a short walkabout in Central Oregon's high desert.  The solitude of the desert lends itself well to introspection.  Lately I've been immersed in the philosophical struggle surrounding the identify of the "self".  Locke, Hume, Descartes, Spinoza, Emerson, and James all have struggled with the same issue.  The more I read, the less I know but, I'm left wondering if this isn't exactly the point of this endeavor?

Who am I?  How do I fit in with family and friends?  Am I happy?  Just exactly what does happy mean?  Is it a good beer?  A great dinner?  A restful nap?  Could it be all of the above?  Is it a requisite that you must be happy?  Is wondering merely a bye product of aging?  In my case, I'm happy because I'm enthralled with the idea of wondering?  It is refreshing to have unanswered questions that beget yet more questions.

In 10 days I'll head into Oregon's outback in pursuit of sage grouse.  It will just be my faithful four legged pal Tobey and myself.  While he may not be a great conversationalist, Tobey grants me the time to let my mind freely wander.  It will be great to smell the sage, listen to the wind, and let my mind go on an extended walkabout unencumbered by the confinement of society.  I wonder if I'll learn anything?