Slip Sliding Away.... Reflections On The Challenges of Frozen Surfaces

I like ice. Ice is my friend. Not only does it make for nice cold drinks in the summertime it also helps encourage mindfulness in the winter. If you have ever encountered ice un-mindfully then you know exactly what I mean. :)

Ouch, right?

Is it the fault of ice that it adheres to its own nature ends up becoming quite slippery? Damn ice, anyways. You suck. Probably planned on taking my ass down hard to the ground, didn't you? Probably even linger with my for a week or so as I nurse this sore coccyx!?

We are currently in the middle of winter here, and while there has not been much snow there has been a LOT of ice. It covers the roads and driveways that Uriah and I walk. I was smiling so deep and wide yesterday as Uriah and I walked outside in air that lingered in the mid 30's, with bright Sunshine lighting up our world. I smiled because as we walked on the ice I could see how mindful he was. I could see him responding to the slippery surface that his 6 year-old body was walking upon ever so delicately. I could see how quick he was responding to every little slip of his feet and then compensating by shortening his stride. He could feel how a normal stride put him at increased risk of falling down... so he shortened his stride to "baby steps."

I let Uriah lead the way home and I followed him. I could sense how when we make the world completely safe and sanitary we remove ourselves from the influence of being challenged. Oddly enough, we can conspire to make ourselves weaker, less responsive, less mindful, less adaptable, with poorer balance and motor skills, with limited range of motion and slower reflexes. A world without ice is a world.... dare I say it.... of diminished mindfulness.

It is amazing the level of interplay and exchange that occurs between us and the world we live in. As we make the world "easier" to manage and navigate by removing obstacles in our path we may not realize how we are also making ourselves less capable. We need challenges and obstacles in our way to draw out the best in us..... to force us to see if we can rise to the occasion. And no, it does not need to be a monumental effort of dominating willpower that is forever unrelenting. Sometimes it is about being playful by dancing on the ice.... by trusting our bodies ability to respond to a change in surface.... by knowing that if we put ourselves in a challenging predicament we are also putting ourselves in position to grow in amazing ways and maybe even surprise ourselves.

The alternative to avoiding all of that which is seen as a challenge, by forcing us to adapt, is to see our own potential slip-slide away. Sometimes the easy way comes with the highest costs and the least of all paybacks.