River Rock Exercise

Yesterday, I taught walking meditation.  Our meeting place is an open space created by the merging of four hallways.  Walking meditation is one of my favorite classes to teach and I had placed my river rocks on a small round table to use in an exercise at the beginning of the class that immediately pulls participants out of their heads and into their hearts.  As I waited, a few employees walking by asked about the rocks, and I’d invite them to the class, but most were on their way to meetings.  A few stopped long enough to go through the river rock exercise that starts with the question, “What rock speaks to you?” 

A busy friend picked a rock, and I asked “Why that rock?” and she replied, “I guess I was drawn to its shape, color, and the way the markings circle the rock.”  My next question was “What does this rock say about the way you need to approach life today?” she pondered for a minute, and then smiled as she enclosed her fingers around the rock and said “go with the flow”.  She walked away with a different bounce in her step and a smile.  How do you need to approach life today?  Pick a rock…….