There are few things as comforting as a warm shower. It evokes in me the feeling of letting go. The moments of weightlessness. The feeling of a conscious cleanse… sterile and pure.

I asked Agam what are some of the things that makes him feel just like a hot shower does. He mentioned – walking. So I thought about it. He is right. I enjoy the conversations I have with myself when I go out for a solo walk. Walks evoke in me a feeling of acceptance. I am alive and thus I feel this cold air touching me and bringing me to awareness of that very moment. I sort my thoughts, and settle self inflicted disputes. It’s a conscious cleanse.

I thought a little more and I think coffee on a quiet morning is like a warm shower. The sip slipping through my throat, warms me up, and takes with it the unsaid words, any remnants of guilt, and cleanses my mouth and my mind.

What cleanses you? You should know that….

Today we went for a stroll in the Sanborn County Park. It was a cleanse. The hike up the steep trail was just enough to transcend me over to the cleansing act. The trees, the crisp air, and the untouched nature around me was quite refreshing.

But why do we need to cleanse our mind and soul so much? Is that what makes us human? We absorb, retain, cling on to, a lot. And then over time we shed it off. In this journey of acquiring, attaching, jostling, and cleansing, years pile on and become decades. And these decades become lifetimes.

In a few years I will complete four decades of this journey. I definitely prefer my current self to the one from a few years back. In fact I already prefer the person I am today, than I was last year. And so through these cleansing acts comes a sense of understanding. Of who we are, what we are to become, and why. What matters, stays. What is perishable, is cleansed. And we become better by letting go of the dead matter.

To more cleansing, de-cluttering and rejuvenating walks in 2021.