I began this morning with what is becoming a ritual – walking outside just at sunrise to shower in my new outdoor stone shower aka Accidental Altar. It was still dark outside as I turned the dials still trying to figure out how to get the right mix of hot and cold water from my new on demand water heater. As I waited I listened to the various bird calls and normal early morning sounds of rural Costa Rica. Finally, the water temperature felt right and I stood fully beneath the rain shower head, completely hidden in the leaves of the tree right above me, Ah…. and I relaxed into morning. It occurs to me that this might be a perfect ritual for starting the day. Almost a sacred ritual.
I hadn’t thought that I’d be using or even building the outdoor shower, really. It began as almost a romantic notion that I put aside during the three years of building and remodeling and creating this small home place. Finally, one day Anita found the rain shower head, still in its box that got stuffed into a corner after a flood. And Oscar, my builder/friend/enabler resurrected the idea of the shower as we built an outdoor bathroom. And here it is – beautiful stone, complete with embedded shells and small stones that I’d carried with me to Costa Rica from faraway places and people.
Funny how today is showing me, through the specialness of a simple morning ritual, that perhaps life can be experienced unintentionally. An unintentional shower that has become an unintentional altar. Makes me wonder about the power of the Unintentional – following signals and signs instead of leading the way with Intention.
Something to ponder, and possibly to write about.
