Thoughts on —
Being Outside and Inside

by Louise LeBrun

Living in Canada's capital, it's tough to avoid outdoor activity! With the world's longest skating rink but a short drive away; and with ski hills, toboggan runs and cross-country trails in abundance and close enough to deprive even the biggest Couch Potato of any legitimate excuse, spending time outside is inviting, accessible and proven to be good for your health.

We are encouraged at every turn of the page and flick of the dial to be more conscious – more mindful – of our need to move; to connect ourselves in some way to the forces that surround us and find ways to move with them and through them; to be in flow. Good for your heart, good for the Soul and good for whatever ails you. It's becoming impossible to deny that what you're avoiding may be what you're missing for a longer and more joyous life.

This doesn't just apply to the outside. The same can be said for spending time inside – but inside of you. Like coming in from the cold into warm and inviting spaces, allowing the comfort that comes from the smell of logs burning on the fire and the feel of the blanket of heat to wrap itself around you. So too can the inner spaces of your mind – the sacred housing of your spirit and your soul – unfold and enfold you in its life-sustaining waves of peace, vitality and authenticity.

Spending time inside – in quiet and solitude – brings its own experience of movement, warmth and flow. Like finding yourself in the vast expanses of the Alaska wilderness, you don't seek out….it finds you. And it comes to you in the cry of the wolves piercing the stillness or the feel of the wind as it sweeps across your skin.

Truth happens like this, too. Raising your awareness of its presence with a sharp point, penetrating the fragile boundaries of your illusions. Or sometimes, in gentle but ever-increasing pulsations of awareness, leaving you incapable of maintaining the facade.

Like being outside renews and revitalizes, with the cold, crisp air of a January day making it impossible not to notice – 100%! – your connection to the elements, so the inside of us draws our attention, leaving an undeniable recognition of the vast inner landscapes that make us who we are.

Like anything else in life, use it or lose it! Perhaps our sense of familiarity would be greatly enhanced by an increase in the frequency of our visits. And, as we acclimatize, the length of our stays begin to extend until soon, without ever having noticed the moment of its turning, we begin to long for a return to our inner sanctum; to that vast, expansive place inside us, where only we can go.

The next time you're outside, allow yourself to go inside and connect to what keeps calling to you. As you roam through those snow-covered places, so too allow yourself to know the movement through those places inside you. And when the two become one, when who you are on the outside begins to match who you are on the inside, the surge of energy that moves through space and time will be greater than you had ever dreamed possible. To continue to live life with only one, when both are your birthright, will only leave you searching for the missing piece. Like the inside and the outside of what you already know, they've always been there. All you have to do is step in.

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