The sun is high and bright today. I showed some wisdom in not running at noon:-) Instead I decided to do something I’m less comfortable with doing-swimming. It’s not that I’m a bad swimmer. I am just not used to it. I must admit to feeling self-conscious in many respects when I swim with my form and technique:-) The pool that I go to is gorgeous: outdoors with huge palm trees bookending the lanes on both sides. It is also full of gorgeous, looking people. As I have mentioned, I’ve recently made strides at meditating. One of my growing edges with this endeavor is to try different types of moving meditation. In this I try to focus only on the sensations of the moment, my breathing, the feel of the water, the filtered heat of the sun. One of the things I love about swimming is the sensuousness of water, both tactilely and visually. It’s lovely to feel swirls. My favorite part of every swim is the initial glide through the water and the immersion of blueness. While in the moment today I noticed a halo of light that rode ahead of my swimming shadow. There was this haloed, shadowy bow that advanced itself ahead of my form. It was so neat to have a visual of myself as a transparent shadow lined in light. The spray from my advancing hand was also showing up as perfect, round, shimmering shadows dropped into the blue. The sight of this memorized me for quite some time. I forgot to do my special “breathing” and nausea ensued:-( Once I finished my laps I got out and laid face-down the mesh lawn chairs. While looking face down into the mesh I again was confronted with my shadow. This time it showed my unruly, wet hair and the slight outline of my never perfect form. I thought about the discontent that can come from gazing at my shadow. I closed my eyes and thought about the other sensations of the moment-the slight chill of the wind, the immanent beat down from the sun, and the receding heaviness of being water logged. When I got home I was startled to see how much sun I’d gotten despite my best efforts at sun block. I was also surprised by the notion that images in the mirror are in many ways color filled shadows. I had a stark thought about how the image wasn’t all of who I am. It merely reflects some aspects of my outward appearance, but it so easy to confuse the image for the whole person. I don’t think I want to think too much about it (a challenge in itself). I just like the idea of grounding myself in the feel of moments rather than dominantly anchoring myself by sight.