Into the River

It’s hotter n’ hell up here in Sonoma County, the tomatoes are finally doing what they should–growing–and the beans, well you can watch them unfold if you sit patiently enough. Our homestead is booming with plant and animal and insect and human life, the sun is drying out the earth after our unseasonable (but always welcome) rains. The snow pack in the Sierra is at 250% above its regular level, and the rivers continue to rush down from the mountains to the sea. In some places, it’s too dangerous to venture, but in others, it’s just right.

I drove up to Ukiah, CA for a radio interview yesterday and on the way home in the blazing 103 degree heat, stopped for a dunk in the Russian River. The stones were hot, but the water was cold and clear. Letting myself go in the current, and then walking back up the river and doing it again felt like the best metaphor and embodied experience of life–that energetic work to walk on our path, and the great challenge of letting go into the current and seeing where it takes me.

I love to stand in a river and feel all the things I don’t want and need anymore rushing away from me into the current. And then I stand facing the river, and the current pours into me the strength and resilience and connectivity that sometimes gets lost in the bustle of all my busy days.

Your homework for today: Go find a river and stand in it. It’ll work its magic on you too.