Mushroom Morning Meditations

Despite the title, I'm not actually writing this from my guru cushion as I sit crosslegged and obscured by incense smoke. In fact...I've never even tried "shrooms".
However and inexplicably I have found myself seeking them and their wisdom...without consuming them. It started with me getting back into "mindfulness" meditation and already being a Nature lover. I started following some mushroom accounts on Instagram and oohing and ahhing over the vast assortment of little weirdo fungis.
Couple that with a particularly good rainy season here in Dallas and I began seeing your basic mushrooms out and about on my walks. Then I started photographing them. Then I started actively hunting them and seeking them out. My morning walks were no longer "let me do some cardio and burn some weight"...in fact my body was now totally out of the equation. It was "must go find new mushrooms, must go find!". This was liberating. No Self. No weight, no judging...just exploring and newness.

Finding a new unphotographed patch of little shrooms was exciting and finding one I had never seen or if it was exceptionally large/small/weird/colored...was like finding gold. I found myself purposefully taking new paths and checking out new areas- just to find more mushrooms. But ever mindful that I was trying to be more uhh MINDFUL - I had to make the effort not to just look out for mushrooms. I had to be open to all, open to the now. (Cue sitar music)
Mushroom Morning Meditations...by opening your eyes to your surroundings you are HERE. The secret is not to look so intently so that you miss everything but what you seek...but to be open to "what will I see?" It is then that all things are revealed and seen and enjoyed. Life is now experienced fully.

Such as this funky little building made out of 4 doors that houses sparkly pumpkins in a chair. If I were set on only looking down for mushrooms I would've missed this or thought "not what I am seeking" and not bothered to inspect further.
If you take anything away from this post its to stay curious, stay "open" and see what will appear for you. Letting go of Self was a big breakthrough for me.
Thanking Mother Nature once again for her gifts of wisdom. I just spent two hours on an unexpected hike instead of 45 minutes at the gym. My spirit and body are happier for it.

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