Last week when we were doing Yamabushi training there was one particular point where I was taken aback by the sheer simplicity of everything.

It’s impossible to truly understand this without being there, but at one point we were having a short rest (Shokyushi) at the base of Haguro-san.

And that’s it.

That’s all we were doing, taking a short break.

But I became antsy wondering when we would get a move on and finish the last part of training.

That’s when I realised. Or at least that’s when Master Hoshino helped me realise. Instead of waiting there for something to happen, stop and take everything in. We were in the middle of a forest with an amazing river and waterfall surrounding us, it doesn’t get much better than that. No need to hurry on to the next thing, or to hurry up and finish things.

It’s the journey not the destination, but sometimes the destination is all we can think about and we forget to stop and enjoy the journey.

So that’s what we were waiting for.