Day 2,830 (written on Tuesday, June 27)

Growth:

Two thoughts really stick out for me today (at least so far – I’m laying in my tent reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius so there’s bound to be many more before sleep). 

First, life passes by so quickly.  Life and death are cycles lived out in so many ways in the woods.  All throughout the forest are examples of both and how both are natural and a necessary part of the other.  

How am I working to close the gap in the little time I have left?  Even if I have 60 more years ahead of me it will be gone in a flash if I don’t live appropriately.

Second, I almost chuckled out loud when I read a quote from Meditations that mirrors a thought bouncing through my head while hiking today.  Again, ego is at the heart of it.

“Beautiful things of any kind are beautiful in themselves and sufficient to themselves.  Praise is extraneous.”

Why am I dismayed when a good deed I do goes unnoticed?  Shouldn’t I find inner peace in knowing I did right?  How does recognition from someone else change what I’ve done?

The trees, the rocks, and all the beautiful things I’ve seen while hiking don’t not care if I praise them and do not change in the least either with or without my praise.

What’s more, many of them have existed longer than me and will be here long after me, regardless of my noticing them.

(the other quote I had going through my head was from the movie Walter Mitty – “Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.”)

Appreciation:

There’s a simple rhythm that I’m finding in backpacking.  Wake up, pack up, head out, hike until the next site, set up camp, eat, go on another short hike or enjoy quiet time in nature, think, blog, sleep.  That may sound like a lot initially, but when I consider the busyness of typical day at work this list infinitesimally microscopic.

There aren’t as many distractions (though there are exponentially more mosquitoes than cell phone call, texts, and emails combined) and there’s not as much any stress.  The day is largely what was planned with biggest variations being what time I start hiking and if I see something extraordinarily interesting (purple moss, a giant tree growing atop a rock, an almost invisible legacy of a nurse log).  Sure, I had to figure out what to do when my boot lace broke, but that was pretty straightforward.

Life on the trail is just easier.  So much more simple.  More focused, less distracted.  Even with less it is still full of joy.  A different joy to be sure, but soothingly soul filling

My mind isn’t even close to considering a backpacking trip of more than a week anytime in the near future, but I could see sneaking in a long weekend  trip once or twice a year.  I’m quickly understanding the result of research being done that human joy increases significantly after only three days in the woods.  I get it, I’m there.

Presence:  

Okay, I was going to write about listening to the birds, enjoying the hike, and all that, but I can’t pass up definitive proof that my hiking boots smell like flowers!  

Yup, 100% legit, not lying.  Even after a few days of getting muddy, sweaty, and swampy my boots must smell amazing!  How else would you explain the butterflies who were all over them while I had them off to dry?  A couple of them even flew inside my boots!  How crazy is that???  Certainly a moment I’ll never forget.

Thanks!!!