Perspective

When I am feeling sad or confused or angry or frustrated, if I am grieving a loss or making an important decision, or if I am in one of those moods in which I just don't know what I feel, the one thing that always helps is a walk in the woods. It's always feels right to get outside into the moist air that smells of mud and dead leaves, to leave behind the computer and telephone, the stacks of papers in my office, the housework and the to-do lists.

In my own woods, I will find big trees that have come down during high winds, and I will walk along the slippery trunks, picking my way across mosses, trying to balance before I fall into the muddy puddles below. I have this idea that learning to balance physically will somehow bring about a corresponding emotional balance.

If I am near a lake or a river, I can spend hours just staring at the water, or climbing up a rock or tree to see how far I can see. Changing my perspective by something as simple as a change of height can sometimes change the way I am turning over thoughts inside my head.



Photo of me taken by my Dad during October.