Count the lizards
Walking Together as a Practice of Love
Slow down
Count the Lizards
It has been said by someone at some point that the beauty of this world is in its detail. We detoxed from the suffocating artificial wealth of Monaco, when we arrived in Vernazza, one of the 5 cities of the Cinque Terre. We found our Airbnb, a cute little place with a draw bridge over a small creek and then found some pizza to eat by the water. After said pizza, we made our way to the official trail of the Cinque Terre to head towards the town of Monterosso. The hike was pretty much straight up. My dogs were barking if you know what I mean. My butt cheeks were strengthening. It was beautiful. There were people from all over the world passing us on either side of the trail as we slowly made our way betwixt cities. The views were phenomenal as you can see the entire city of Vernazza from above it within a few minutes of hiking and soon the entire coastline of Italy. Along the way we began to count the number of lizards we saw. They were doing the Cinque Terre too. 37 of them. And we saw one snake. Counting lizards kept our focus on the trail and on the beautiful details of nature that surrounded us on all sides.
Walking Together as a Practice of Love
Have you ever wondered why a walk is one of the most romantic things to do with your lover? Long walks on the beach are so romantic because it slows you down to a pace where you appreciate everything you are feeling within you and everything you are surrounded by. The vastness of the sky. The movement of the waves. The power of the tides. The softness of the sand. Sometimes when the rhythm of our hearts aligns with the rhythm of nature, we feel in sync with the chorus of the world. It also directionally is two people moving in the same direction at the same pace – if that isn’t love then what is, ya know? I feel that walking with your true love makes you more free than you were when you were walking alone and that you can get to places you couldn’t get to on your own. Being in love then becomes an evolution of the soul, it allows access to another level of living and loving that can only be actualized together.
Slow Down
Slow down, I just wanna get to know ya! I mean look, the most magical aspect of the Cinque Terre is how it slows you down. We had been traveling to a new place everyday before the Cinque Terre and I felt the change of pace right when we started walking the Cinque Terre. It allows you to take a deep breath, to inspire, and to take it all in. To allow is not to accept. To allow is to face reality so that you can then choose your path to liberation.
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.
Allow by Danna Faulds
