Meeting by the river

There is a river by my work. I had a meeting yesterday, and I like to walk and talk. When I was a manager, almost all my one-on-ones were walk-n-talks.

I figured we'd take several laps of our sprawling parking lot. But no -- it turns out there's a river right by work, with a long path.

I can't tell you how much this helps. There is something about having Nature nearby that quiets me and helps me concentrate. On interview days, I kept taking breaks to gaze at the big poplar out front. A greenbelt runs along two sides of our campus.

During rehearsal breaks Leonid Anisimov, my master teacher, would go out into Nature to refresh, reground. I picked up this habit, and now do it at work as well. Looking at bark, or water, or leaves, I remember that whatever's worrying me is only a game we invented to entertain ourselves. The real thing is this, Nature, and underneath we are all part of its flow.

games we invent are
as real as a frog; greet both
while the moon fattens