A couple of days ago I published my three favorite photos of the year. With the next few posts I am going to share my favorite hiking photos. This picture says it all-on the trail heading off to…where? Anywhere.
“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?”
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
I hate to admit it, but the winter has already worn out its welcome. Although I love the colder days and lots of snow, it is a serious buzz kill whenever I even try to think about getting out into the woods. With only two hours of daylight left when I leave my school for the day, it is next to impossible to get to any trail in the area and get any type of hike in before the sun sets. This doesn’t really sit well with me. I guess I’m getting a case of modified cabin fever.
For the last few weeks I haven’t really been able to get out that much. Gone are the days of the summer when the hiking was easy. I could hike all day and not have to worry about losing precious daylight. Days when you could stop and take a breather for any amount of time and not have to worry about freezing to death have certainly gone by the wayside.
As a result, I am forced to be inside a whole lot more than I would like to be. At work and at home, the winter months mean that I will spend more time wishing that I could hike than I do actually hiking. So every night almost as soon as I get home, I pull the stationary bike out, move it in front of the tv and I ride. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that although the bike is excellent cardio training, it in no way can replace being out in the woods. The fresh air, listening to the sound of my breath as I push up hills and crossing the paths of like minded folks is beyond description.
Getting out into the woods is, hands down, the best way to dispose of the mental garbage we all carry. A nice mental enema…
It was a very interesting day, this Christmas Day. At just around 10:15 yesterday morning, the power went out in parts of Mahopac. After about 20 minutes of blessed silence, my son (who was in the next room), texted me asking if we could play Monopoly. That’s right..he texted me. But that’s a story for another day.
Anyway, after not finding the Monopoly game board, we decided to play Trivial Pursuit. It was really nice to be able to sit down with my kids and not have to fight with some form of electronics for their attention. As the game passed one hour and then two, I realized how lucky I was to have two kids who didn’t mind spending some time with their old man.
Although it was forced upon us, those three hours spent together playing a board game made this Christmas Day a complete one. It has been a long time since my two kids and I had the opportunity to just sit down and play a game. It brought back memories of other days when we actually planned to play some kind of game if we had a snow day, or if it was really a hot summer day.
With all of that said, I guess my point is this-if you have older children, take advantage of any time that you get to spend with them. When they are younger, we know that they aren’t going anywhere and quite honestly, the thought never enters your mind. Now that my son, who is senior in college, will be either going to graduate school or entering the work force, is obviously on his way. My daughter follows in just a few short years.
Those three hours playing Trivial Pursuit were probably some of the best time spent during 2017! And BTW-I won!!!!!
This photo rounds out my top three photos of the year. Taken at my parents house, I love the colors in this picture, especially how you don’t see a direct cut off, instead the darker colors fade into the lighter.
My second favorite photo of the year was taken after a late afternoon hike in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. It was getting dark very quickly and the temperature was somewhere in the mid 40’s. Even though it was a short hike, it was a good one.
This is my favorite photo of 2017. I decided that after I dropped my daughter off at hockey practice that I would go to the Appalachian Railroad station to take some pictures. I actually sat down on the tracks facing north and took this shot.
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.”
-Gautamma Buddha
I’ve been doing a great deal of reading lately on how having a purpose in life and how this contributes to our happiness, and in turn, to our longevity. Having a profession where you actually feel as though you are making a contribution to society as a whole is a clear example of having a purpose. This can be well defined through just about any profession. If you are committed to what you do and have a passion for it, this will ultimately contribute to your happiness.
As teachers we know what our purpose is, and since we have chosen teaching as a profession, gone through years of schooling and have made a conscious decision that instead of enjoying early financial gain as you might see in other professions, we would instead be rewarded with nurturing the intellectual growth of our students.
I think that it would be safe to say that we all enter education because we have the desire to impart our knowledge and love of our subject matter to the kids in the communities where we teach. To not only see the intellectual growth in the year that we may have them, but also as they make their way through our colleagues classes as well. The point is that they will see our passion and maybe, just maybe, they will take with them when they leave a life long love for learning.
On the island of Okinawa, Japan, they refer to this as “ikigai”, or a reason for getting up in the morning. This reason, or purpose is what keeps us centered.
But what happens when external, or for that matter, internal factors enter into the equation and stifle the sense of purpose that we have? What happens when a profession such as teaching becomes “just another job”? I don’t know many teachers who have chosen the profession for the paycheck, and the ever present myth of having all of the time off is well, still a myth.
Where am I going with this? Recent events have shown me that although we may have a very clear sense of purpose, from time to time our resolve is tested and when a situation may set up roadblocks that cloud our purpose, or to question it, then it is up to no one but ourselves to balance things out and keep moving on a forward and productive path. Most times it isn’t our love for teaching, or our passion for what we do that comes into question, instead it is those other factors that prove to contribute to our downfall and for us to lose our focus.
So what do we need to do to regain or maintain the balance? The external factors in our life are sometimes easier to correct than those that are internal. Often times internally we do not have any say in decisions that are made that “mess with our mojo.” But we still have to keep moving.
I have some thoughts. One thing that has proven to be incredibly helpful to me is to have other things that you are equally as passionate about and that you can share with others. If you are reading this, then you are well versed on my love for hiking and in turn, my blogging about it. You might also know about my love of building things, not so professionally, but a love none the less. These two things truly keep me grounded so I am not consumed with the daily drama associated with work.
Second, having a core group of colleagues that you can depend on is vital. Now I don’t necessarily mean people that we can just blindly bitch to one another about what we don’t like, but people who will listen and offer constructive advice and support as we meander through our daily work lives. Think about it-We sometimes spend more time interacting with our colleagues every day than we do our husbands, wives and significant others.
Teachers have a unique sense of community that in my humble opinion, can’t be matched by many other professions. We are not driven by money or other material factors, but instead the passing off to others a love of teaching and our specific subject areas. Think about the teachers that you loved the most. Why did you love them? What did they do in the classroom to convey their love for what they do?
Don’t get to a point where you don’t know why you get up in the morning.
“Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.”
-Paramahansa Yogananda
For me, this is one of the easier Weekly Photo Challenges. Hiking in itself provides me with a high degree of serenity that can not be matched by any other activity. This is one of my favorite moments caught recently at sunset. The possibilities, not only in this post but the previous two serenity posts, are endless. The paths provided by each, both figuratively and literally, open doors for every person if you let them.
“Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh
The Zen Hiker 