Why I Walk in the Woods

Sep 27, 2010 by cara moulds

There is very little that a walk in the woods cannot cure.  I take to the woods when I feel myself slipping out of alignment with my source energy and into negativity and irritability, when I realize I am focusing more on negative things that bother me rather than on the positive that’s also always there if you look for it.

I try very hard to monitor my thinking, control my emotions, and stay positive.  To focus on gratitude and appreciation.  To feel good even if it means visualizing what I hope will be instead of what is.  This is what Abraham-Hicks refers to as “getting in the Vortex.” You could also think of it as “the zone” that athletes use to peak their performance.  I like to think of it as “alignment with my source energy” because that makes sense to me.   I have felt my body vibrating in meditation and know there are times when we are aligned with our source energy and times when we are not.  I can feel when I start slipping down the slope into negativity and out of alignment.  Sometimes I can catch myself quickly and sometimes I can’t.   Usually it’s related to work and my hectic schedule, areas of my life that I frequently feel are out of my control, even though I know that everything is in my control.  I can determine how I think about it and therefore influence how I let it affect me.  But sometimes it’s hard to “ignore” what is, especially when it is on a daily basis with no end in sight.

That’s when I take to the woods, no matter how busy I am.  I can feel when I need to go.  When I am snapping about stupid things, making snide comments, feeling overwhelmed.  I head out to the woods and let the simplicity and stillness take over.  I love the solitude and the wide open expanses of fields between forest groves where I hike.  I never fail to feel the history of the place, to realize that these fields and forests have been here since the beginning of time.  To look at the treetops and feel the strength of hundreds of years.  To look across the fields for as far as I can see and imagine life before cars, high-rises, office buildings or neighborhoods.  To imagine being here when we were all so much more connected to nature, to the energy of the earth and trees.

On several trails, there are remnants of stone dwellings:  a basement underground with a chimney jutting out, two walls with crumbling edges. They remind me of the impermanence of this lifetime and the longevity of my soul.  I think about the people living there and how unimportant most of our daily aggravations are in the big scheme of things.

Standing in the expansiveness of the forest or the fields, I can get back to my inner knowing that there is a bigger picture and its foundation is built on joy and love.  I can let go of my focus on what is right now in my hectic life and reconnect with my belief for what will be.  I can feel the timelessness of the trees, the grasses, the breeze blowing, the white clouds floating across a blue sky and know that I am part of that timelessness, part of that energy which is all positive, all joyful, all love.

When I emerge from the forest to return home, it is always with a renewed sense of peace, positive energy, and a perspective for finding positive aspects and joy in my life.