Fresh Air and Poetry

For the last few weeks I have been making a concerted effort to get outside every day for some fresh air and rejuvenation. I’d realized that while almost every weekend I’m out hiking the trails of Bradbury during the week I am actually outside very little and this had negatively impacted my daily happiness . Of course it seems like as soon as I realized this I’ve had things most nights which have prevented me from stopping at Bradbury on my way home from work for a quick hike, but I have made it a priority to get out for a short walk through the Bowdoin quad most evenings.

I knew my schedule today wouldn’t allow even that but I was reluctant to resign myself to a fate of no outdoor time. I needed to get outside, even if it was only for a few minutes, so this morning before work I stepped out for a short walk up and down Maine street.  With me I had a book I borrowed from the library last night, a book of poems by Mary Oliver, and as I walked I read. I soaked in the crisp morning air, lost myself in the sounds of birds singing, breathed in the delicious scent of coffee, and let the darkness of early morning highlight the beauty of the words before me. I love Oliver’s work (there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t see something that makes me repeat to myself the lines of “Mindful” the only poem I have committed to memory), and the verses I read this morning were lovely.

I finished my walk feeling refreshed, centered and happy – it was the perfect way to start this day.
I leave you now with a few lines, a short poem that made me smile…

Three Things to Remember

As long as you're dancing, you can

   break the rules.

Sometimes breaking the rules is just

   extending the rules.

Sometimes there are no rules.