Long Walks On Leafy Streets

11/16/2014 Tuckerman St NW, Washington, DC
I am enjoying a quiet, lazy Sunday afternoon. It has been another hectic week and during the weekend I try to relax and do things I enjoy doing even if they are not the most useful. Lately I am recognizing the need for me to just enjoy life sometimes without worrying about whether I am using my time wisely. I alternate between phases where I am constantly and intensely active and ones where I am being somewhat lazy and self-indulgent. Perhaps it is due to the very divergent personalities of my parents that I have both of these tendencies. This is also true when it comes to my spiritual life. There is a part of me that wants to focus exclusively on living a mindful life, detached from worldly possessions, power and fame. There is also a part of me that is very restless and wants to accomplish many things and contribute to the world.
Sometimes one aspect becomes dominant but eventually that causes resistance within me and I take time to adjust and balance myself. I try to make sure I have time allocated every week where I do things to take care of my need for fun and excitement as well as rest and relaxation. As time goes I feel myself naturally losing interest in certain things and enjoying more those activities that make a difference in my life and that of the world. As a great teacher once said -- I think it was Suzuki Roshi who said it -- Renunciation is not about giving up things but rather about things falling away by themselves.
This season of leaves falling away is a good time to remember that, although with the blast of Arctic air in the past few days it feels like we went straight from summer to winter. The birds from the North have arrived for their fall sojourn. I have been noticing flocks of Canada geese and Ring-billed gulls in the reservoir next to our campus. On Friday I was on campus all day. There was a meeting related to the development of an environmental studies major at Howard. The campus was very quiet, perhaps because some students have already left on their Thanksgiving vacation. I enjoyed sitting at my desk and looking at the reservoir.
Yesterday I wanted to check out the Sligo Creek trail for a hike I am planning to organize. My plan was to walk from the Takoma Park metro station to the creek via Maple Ave and then go on the hiker / biker trail all the way to West Hyattsville. From there I was to take the metro to College Park for a meeting of AID, the Association for India’s Development. At this particular meeting they were going to discuss a project they were funding, for groups helping farmers grow organic crops. This was a topic close to my heart. But by the time I finished cooking and getting ready it was almost one o’clock so instead of hiking I decided to bike. It was quite cold, in the upper thirties and low forties. At first I was feeling a bit uncomfortable. But once I had biked for a mile or two the excitement of the journey took over and I forgot that it was cold. It felt more like biking in the countryside on a lazy summer day, even though the trail is entirely within suburban Maryland.
After about three miles through densely populated Takoma Park and Chillum the Sligo Creek merges with the Northwest branch that ultimately flows into the Anacostia River. Along the Northwest branch the trail feels a bit more open with fewer trees on both sides. It goes through the towns of Hyattsville and Brentwood and then joins the Northeast branch. I thought for a moment about taking the metro rail at West Hyattsville station but by then I was on a roll and enjoying the ride so I just continued biking. I biked north on the Northeast branch trail through Riverdale and College Park and then took the Paint Branch trail to the house where the meeting was held. In College Park the trail goes around a small airfield and it is always fun to bike there. I really enjoyed being able to bike alongside creeks all the way from my home to the meeting. Although at 13 miles it was 5 miles more than if I had taken the shortest route it was great to do a long bike ride after a while. It also gave me a good idea about how the proposed hike will look like and helped me to get used to the cold weather. More importantly, it was great to spend time with nature, alone.

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