Parks & Life & Having A Happy Heart

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

Someone already worried for me if I based my physical activity on going to parks it would stop in the winter - and that could be a possibility - a kindly suggestion was made about making alternative preparations now . . .

Well, here's the thing  . . . I might not feel like going to parks anymore tomorrow, doubtful but possible. Right right it is just so much fun .  .  .
I amazed that all these places exist all around me, literally, and I never knew they were there  . . . just one street or two over from places I have driven to hundreds of times, and even one I actually have driven by hundreds of times without ever noticing there was a park there. Where was I  . . .probably already mentally at the place I was going to missing where I actually was.
Sounds like a big metaphor for life.

I, also, started thinking about all these little pockets of life .  . . moms with strollers, kids playing sports, friends walking, running, biking, skating, and beautifully sitting; and an astounding lack of cell phones, MP3 players. Yep, really I have been seeing people talking to each other in person instead of to or through plastic.

As my always busy continues to wander. . . there must be at least billions of these little pockets of life . . . where people still commune like there have for centuries, well more likely for a period of time I can't conceive of . . .

A friend asked me if I knew how many parks I visited so far  . . . so I had to make a list - for this year I could  come up with 64 . . . and I am only finding myself more fascinated by the different benches . . . I realized my last day out I have started studying the actual construction more closely instead of just enjoying the comfort of a place to sit, a place to observe, and the form.
I figure it is a better focus for that part of my addictive personality that was absorbed in old TV reruns . . . 

I figure the worst thing that can happen is I will bore my friends with pictures of a hundreds of pictures trees and grass that might look the same . . . they are great people, and I know they will enjoy knowing I am having fun, and getting seeing the world outside my walls . . .

I was trying to think of what my favorite park was  . . . it finally drifted up . . . Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia . . . it is the only park I ever got lost in . . . it's pretty big. . . and I love the walk along the seawall . . .water and park in the same place . . . last time I remember being there someone was playing bagpipes . . . 

And the other question, was there a park I found scary or uncomfortable . . . nope . . . but I did pass on going into one in Oregon I wanted to see because it was dusk . .  . most or almost all of the signs I have noticed say they close at dusk . . .

and somehow this quote below I love fits, this is my self work right now, I don't even necessarily need to see the whole picture, but what is better than having fun, and having a happy heart even for a moment while hearing the child laughing on the slide  . . .

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” – Buddha