River Walks

Dillon Falls, Deschutes River, Bend Oregon.

Each morning for the past two weeks I’ve been walking the same three mile river loop that hugs a small section of the Deschutes River just down from my house in Bend Oregon. There’s been clarity in walking the same morning route, a kind of raw meditation in the repetition of it. The route becomes background and subtle details emerge, patterns that can only be seen in that repetition. The same family of osprey fishing the same river holes, sometimes successful, sometimes not. The subtle change of flora that happens within fifty feet of elevation loss and access to water. It’s in this repetition that the clarity of being present in the now takes hold and creativity sharpens. The possibility of a thing is a strong feeling and can get lost in the overflow of distractions that naturally happen on any given day. When those distractions are stripped away what you are left with is birdsong, a flowing river, the morning breeze, the exertion of spent muscles, it is in these seemingly simple things the thou of life is expressed. And in that space ideas flourish. Most go nowhere, some may continue once you’re back at your desk or studio or living room. But boy, what a way to spend a morning hour, lost to the world but found within yourself.