On the first day of the retreat, the universe tapped me on the shoulder.

Walking meditation is a lot like yoga in that it is a way to connect mind and body. This is the first foundation of mindfulness. I was walking barefoot in a beautiful meadow. My feet were talking to me…mmm…Bermuda grass…some crabgrass now…dandelion…plantain…ahhhh…clover. My senses were on end when It happened. I was aroused from my sensual bipedal reverie by a sharp thwack on my right shoulder. Mere inches from my face a dragonfly perched on my shoulder with a moth, plucked from the sky seconds earlier, in it’s mouth, still alive and struggling.

I considered my options after the initial urge to swat the bug.

A ground rule of the retreat was to avoid harming any life. Yet here I was up close and personal as a small beige moth was slowly drawn into the jaws of the dragonfly. The moth twitched in its death throes for several minutes, inches from my face. If, deus ex machina, I intervened, what would have been the benefit? A mortally wounded moth and a famished dragonfly that was too tired to catch it’s next meal.

I watched a transformation. Moth became dragonfly.

Thanks for reading

DFD