To take the shattered pieces
Of my ever thinking mind
Torn fragments of a thought that travels
Unravelling back to the beginning
And then beginning again
An echo in a chamber full of echos
Reverberating restlessly.
To quiet the inner ear
To block the outer that hears
And sink into stillness
That knows no fear
No violence
No perpetual motion of random jagged thought mobility
Turbidity
Throwing up silt like a burrowing crab
To gather the cloud, the swarm, the herd
The whole ephemeral mess
Lay it down beneath my feet
Jaunting forth barefoot
Feel the caress
Of subtle soil
Dirt
And the goosebump prickle of a sudden burr
Entering sharply
Returning my wandering attention
Markedly nasty in its intention to enter my tender flesh
And have me hopping
And plucking
Before continuing gingerly on
With more attention to the path in front of me
Gradually motion and focus brings about a state of keen awareness
Equanimous as the hawk that sits absolutely still
Knowing all his strength comes
From his abundant skill
To see movement at a thousand feet
And drop plummeting
Without falling
Gracefully stalling
Talons buried
In the trophy acquired
By grasping the present moment
*inner equanimity, stillness unbridled by the urge to be somewhere else doing something else and feeling the weight and pressure of all those pressing things ..that we should be doing instead
When ironing I should be gardening and when gardening I should be in the office and when I’m in the office I have the sinking feeling that through doing these sums and levelling the books, I am missing the opportunity that marches past without me – finishing the re-writing of my book.
The only place I find solace from the ten thousand things that must be done, is in nature.
So, like a coward I have been running there as often as possible
Yesterday, I took off my shoes. As a kid, I always walked barefoot, everywhere. In summer the heat would have me tip toe scurrying, hurrying for dappled shade.
The thing was though, that by constantly going barefoot – the feet become inured and hardened to the terrain
As a child my feet were tough
My adult feet by contrast, though often barefoot on gentle surfaces, are nowhere near as leathery and as such – all my senses were suddenly heightened
Goosebumps popped out as the sensation of tiny lumps of dirt, pebbles and stones and soft yielding dirt were bought into immediate contact with my soles
The warmth of the earth in the sun, the coolness deep in the shade where the grass was still damp
A little mud
Squelching
My eyes were snapped to the dusty path
Here, there was no inward withdrawal into day dreams – I needed to see where I was going!
My mind dropped into the moment
Particularly once reminded by the painful entry of the three cornered needle sharp barb of a burr
Leap hop hop swear
Pluck
Adrenaline!
Bloody ouch!
And so I continued
More warily
And it was a good reminder of how mindful and immersive barefoot walking can be
But slow and steady was not going to sustain me for my usual marches around about
My pace is a cracking one by nature
So I was glad I had packed my vibram five toe shoes almost as an afterthought as I headed out the door
You see, the thickly padded Hoka shoes have largely replaced my vibrams as running footwear of choice for the last year or so – they made me faster and more efficient
Or so I thought
Maybe they just made me faster, quicker, busier, less intentional, less sensitive to my environment
Less mindful
So once again, since then, I have been walking and running in my vibram five toes
The vibration of the road, the foot feel and the sensitivity and connectivity to the ground is deeply satisfying
Funny how things go around, come around,
Return
*photo in header is the lookout above Lonesome National Park which you travel through to get to Lake Nuga Nuga – there is a camping spot at the bottom of the range that is flagged for another trip down the track

We used to play outdoors barefoot as kids. After I stepped on a rusty nail and the wound became infected, I gained appreciation for wearing shoes, even when at play.
Oh love the mindful walking barefoot Kate ❤️
Thanks Kellie ❤️
Love this!
Thanks Melanie
I grew up barefoot in the Aussie bush too … and those three-pointed burrs are a bugger! 😀
Zero to 100 straight up in the air 😂 Goat heads and Galvanised burrs are the worst