Kicking a Rock in the Black Morning

Kicking a Rock in the Black Morning

Early this morning, before the sun had risen, I walked through my neighborhood in the black of night. The air was perfect for walking — calm, cool, and still. My steps fell into rhythm, and with the quiet around me, I found myself settling into a deep sense of peace.

Then, without warning, my foot struck a rock. A stumble. The stillness broken.

That moment reminded me how often life feels this way. We move through seasons of calm, caught in rhythm and flow, until something unexpected interrupts us. A rock in the dark. A disruption in our peace.

The lesson is not to avoid every rock, because that’s impossible. The lesson is to return. Stillness and peace are not fragile states that vanish forever when disturbed. They are disciplines. Practices. Choices. If I hold onto frustration, I lose my peace. But if I release it and realign my focus, I reclaim the stillness that was already there.

This practice carries into every part of life — whether it’s the home, the workplace, travel, or performance. On the pitcher’s mound, on the bowling lanes, or in the daily challenges of living, peace and focus are what allow us to perform at a higher level.

Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi taught us that flow comes when challenge and focus meet. The rock, the stumble, the disturbance — these are inevitable. But the return? That is the skill.

Peace is not the absence of disturbance; it’s the discipline of coming back. And when we do, even the darkest morning can feel illuminated with stillness like moonlight.