Stop mind!...I want to get off!

“May you welcome your mind to rest from time-to-time. It’s the greatest gift you may ever give yourself.”

 ‘Stop the World—I Want to Get Off’ was a thought-provoking, insightful and delightfully-entertaining Broadway musical (1962) about a man who each time something unsatisfactory would happen in his life, he would shout out “Stop the world!” and his world ‘literally’ would stop. The main character could pause life ‘at will’ and just sit in stillness and rest, until he was ready to throw himself back into his hamster wheel of life. The musical was recently played back to me as a metaphor for my thoughts, through a profound lesson and somewhat magical experience cross-country skiing one cold winter’s day.

On the morning in question, I rose before sunrise, had my breakfast, including a nice, hot cup of coffee, dawned my ski clothing and equipment, hopped in a car (what a blessing it was to have been loaned a car for the day), and drove out to a popular destination for cross-country skiing. As the sun started peeking above the horizon, the mist and rising, freezing humidity blanketed the tree branches with a glassy covering of ice. The previous day’s virgin snowfall gently blanketed the branches and cast a magical spell over the landscape.

I arrived in the parking lot just as the birds started their morning merriment and noted that a gauge on the car’s dashboard indicated it was -21 degree celsius outside. I remember thinking… “Oh boy!... -21. Hmmm…that’s cold!” But my excitement of cutting tracks in newly-fallen snow, as I venture off into the forest, was just too alluring. So, sporting my hat, mittens and other attire designed to keep me warm and dry, I set off for my adventure.

What greeted me was nothing short of breathtaking. The cold, crisp air was intoxicating and the symphonic crunching of snow beneath my skis was both hypnotic and invigorating. The trails were pristine. The sun burst through the tall stands of deciduous and coniferous trees and cast laser-like streams of light across the snow, as the sun’s rays filled my body, heart, and soul with hope and euphoric joy.

As I skied on I was reminded that a few days earlier there had been a major ice storm in the region. As the ice adhered and accumulated on the trees, many branches started to bend from the weight of the ice. In extreme cases, the tree would be contorted into an almost-perfect arch. Some trees, however, simply could not withstand the weight of the ice and broke, laying themselves across the trails. Along some sections of the trails, the forest floor was strewn with broken branches and debris from fallen trees. Sometimes the fallen branches and debris created such an obstruction on the trails that one had to traverse and circumnavigate the natural barrier to get around the fallen debris. But I welcomed these unexpected ‘veerings off’ as part of the grand adventure for the day—it only added to my joy.

At a point in my skiing odyssey, I realized I had not thought much about what the conditions on the day might have been like, in light of the ice storm we had only a few days earlier. Had I thought about the effects of the ice storm, I would not have gone out for the day. My thoughts would have prevented me from going. If I had allowed my thoughts about the ice storm to populate my mind, I would have realized that debris would be all over the place and some trees would have fallen and possibly blocked the trails. I would have allowed my thoughts to race and build to a crescendo of negativity and result in my deciding not to go skiing.

On this particular day, I am glad I simply said “Stop mind…I want to get off!” I simply did not think about any obstacles to my day. It wasn’t that I ignored the previous days’ weather and ice deposits, I simply chose to go anyway. I was conscious of the possibility of forest debris and downed trees that lay ahead of me, but I chose to go anyway. Frankly, I didn’t give it much thought. What I did think about was the joy of rising before sunrise, driving outside the city into nature, feeling the fresh air in my lungs, feeling the wind on my face, hearing the sounds of my skis on and in the snow, hearing the sounds of the trees creaking as they symbiotically swayed with the wind. I allowed my mind to rest and allowed nature to reveal its splendor to me.

May you welcome your mind to rest from time-to-time. It’s the greatest gift you may ever give yourself.