Creation – Walking with trees

Walking Through the Forest 1905 by Bertalan Por

Silent Moon - How can we find silent time to restore and regenerate our enthusiasm for our lives/work/relationships? - CAYA's full moon question.

There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.  ~ Eckhart Tolle

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” ~ Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

I find it’s much easier to get to know a tree’s personality in the winter.  Sure, it’s nice to sit under the shade of an ancient one during the summer.  But, in the winter I find they let their leaves down – so to speak.  I’ve found that a tree you've passed during the summer dressed with frilly green leaves may not be who you think they are dancing freely in the winter winds.  It also could be that many of us humans are hibernating and not out walking in the cold so they can be themselves.  Often I’m the lone bus stop walker and readily greeted by my neighborhood’s trees when I get home.  They act like I’m the only person they’ve see all day besides the mail carrier.  And, on those crappy gray Ohio winter’s days I find they always manage to change my mood into something cheerier by the time I get home.

Julian Cameron in her book Walking in This World, tells readers “to walk on it“(11).  She described how she would park the truck somewhere and walk a forty-five minute loop in the foothills of the Taos Mountain.  She felt directionless and creatively drained at this time of her life.  By walking she found solace and a way to work through grief.  These walks in nature help her sort things out and to hear herself better.  This was a way to connect to something bigger.  She says that guidance was always there - she just needed to listen and observe.

Walking out in nature has a similar effect on me.   My feet hitting the pavement for thirty minutes during lunch always manage to create a mini Sabbath that renews my spirit.  My relationship with the outdoors (i.e., trees, birds, sky, sun and potted flowers in the summer) uplifts my spirit and I'm able to face the afternoon more centered. 

I’m like many who work in a cubicle with a computer and phone that by its make-up separates me from creation.  When I haven’t taken a lunch walk outside by four o’clock I find myself stuck in the intellectual side of me versus being in relationship.  I become so focused on the problems that I can’t hear or see through to solutions.  The projects become overwhelming mounds of paper and unanswered e-mails.  It is at this point I know immediately I’ve become disconnected from the natural world.  I need to get outside and nourish my spirit and hear guidance beyond Google.

~#~

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles. ~ Anne Frank

 ~#~

Shinrin-yoku (i.e., forest bathing or walking) is a major form of relaxation in Japan.  In a 2005 study, shinrin-yoku was shown to be a possible method of stress reduction.  All stress related outcomes except for hostility were shown to be reduced by simply walking through the woods.  In another study, Tokyo's Nippon Medical School showed women who spent two to four hours in the woods on two consecutive days experienced a nearly 50 percent increase in the activity of cancer-fighting white blood cells.

My silent walks outdoors go beyond scientifically studied health benefits.  My walks are about connecting and asking for guidance from entities the mainstream culture denies existence.  It’s about refocusing on viewing nature as alive and sacred.  It’s about building a friendship and being engaged with all creation; and in turn allowing creation to care for my soul and brokenness. 

~#~

 

Activities without headphones, cell phones and smart phones:

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” ~ John Muir

“To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.” Jane Austen

Take a walk allow you mind to relax, ask a question about a problem you are having and listen.

Take a walk in the woods and meditate on this walking poem by Christine Valters Paintner:

Tree of Life

Rise up in me,
Rooting me deeply in the ground
and inviting me to extend my branches far into the sky

 

Native American Prayer 

My feet touch earth and dance to the drums which are in my heart as well.

If my feet do not touch earth the dance will not be good.

And the music in my heart will all be still.

Articles to read on trees and health:

USDA Forest Service - Pacific Northwest Research Station. "Tree and human health may be linked." ScienceDaily, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130116163823.htm

Forest bathing enhances human natural killer activity and expression of anti-cancer proteins.Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2007 Apr-Jun;20(2 Suppl 2):3-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17903349

Spliner, Maggie. Forest Bathing The Healing Power of a Walk in the Woods. Natural Awaking. April 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. http://www.naturalawakeningsmag.com/Natural-Awakenings/April-2012/Forest-Bathing/

 

Bohemian Quests

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” ~ Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 7: 1966-1974

“[T]he most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.” ~ Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

“I am always in quest of being open to what the universe will bring me.” ~ Jill Bolte Taylor

In his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell outlined a narrative pattern that has appeared in many heroes’ tales outlined in twelve steps.  These cultural tales begin with an ordinary person call to adventure.  Many times, the hero is reluctant and has to be push forward.  We then follow them as they go on to achieve great deeds on behalf of a group or for humanity. 

I’ve always asked the questions about Campbell’s hero’s quests – who determines who can be a hero?  Are we not each capable of becoming one?  What are considered great deeds?  Sure discovering the cure for cancer is heroic, but isn’t the hospice nurse who midwives death a hero too?  Finally, who has the time to go on a formal quest?  Isn’t one who has financial and social responsibilities to a family, capable of a quest too even if they can’t give up a year or two?  What if you can’t afford a pilgrimage to a cool place – can’t you have a quest in your backyard too?

~#~

Bohemian Coffee House Baltimore, MD 

To me, the underlying purpose of a quest is to stretch us to look at our soul differently.  I see it also as a mechanism for reconnection with our soul’s true calling.  According to Campbell, the hero goes off on their adventure after they are called; meets new people; goes through some tests and trials; and comes back different and is able to share this experience with a group of friends.  I have often wondered what would happen if we looked at our day long journey as a quest?  How would our view of the mundane be different?  Would we live differently?

This is why I came up with the term Bohemian Quests. 

A Bohemian Quest is about looking at the ordinary or the boring or the humdrum in an uncommon way.  A Bohemian Quest is about changing your perceptions – shaking things up.  For example, at lunch I take a 30 minute walk.  I usually go one particular route and the houses and shops now have become a familiar blur.  But if a purposely change the direction of the walk a paradigmatic change always occurs in my perception.  I always manage to say – “there’s a church on the corner?”  “I didn’t know there was a coffee shop there?”

A Bohemian Quest is about creating quiet space to listen to our heart without the cell phone or e-mail blasts distracting us.  This may occur in a bookshop, a coffee shop or hiking in the woods.  Here, you can meet new people.  A Bohemian Quest may include signing up for a watercolor class or changing up your chore list from kitchen, bathroom and grocery store to grocery store, kitchen and bathroom.

~#~

Julia Cameron prescribed 3 tools for becoming a creative person: Daily Journal, Walking and Having an Artist Date.  I would describe a Bohemian Quest as fulfilling an artist date.  The purpose of the date is to spend a few hours a week doing something out of the ordinary.  It’s about feeding, refueling and nourishing the inner creative you.  It is about making your brain see things a little different from the way you usually do things. 

Cameron provides several examples.  Here are some of my favorites: hang out at a coffee shop and listen in on conversations, see an art film, go to Joanne Fabrics, go and see a live band concert, go to a park and sit under a tree, go to a flea market, go to poetry night reading…..

Activities:

Take a Bohemian Quest

 Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey stages are:

1.        THE ORDINARY WORLD.  The hero, uneasy, uncomfortable or unaware, is introduced sympathetically so the audience can identify with the situation or dilemma.  The hero is shown against a background of environment, heredity, and personal history.  Some kind of polarity in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions and causing stress.

2.        THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.  Something shakes up the situation, either from external pressures or from something rising up from deep within, so the hero must face the beginnings of change. 

3.        REFUSAL OF THE CALL.  The hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the adventure, however briefly.  Alternately, another character may express the uncertainty and danger ahead.

4.        MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.  The hero comes across a seasoned traveler of the worlds who gives him or her training, equipment, or advice that will help on the journey.  Or the hero reaches within to a source of courage and wisdom.

5.        CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.  At the end of Act One, the hero commits to leaving the Ordinary World and entering a new region or condition with unfamiliar rules and values. 

6.        TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.  The hero is tested and sorts out allegiances in the Special World.

7.        APPROACH.  The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major challenge in the Special world.

8.        THE ORDEAL.  Near the middle of the story, the hero enters a central space in the Special World and confronts death or faces his or her greatest fear.  Out of the moment of death comes a new life.

9.        THE REWARD.  The hero takes possession of the treasure won by facing death.  There may be celebration, but there is also danger of losing the treasure again.

10.      THE ROAD BACK.  About three-fourths of the way through the story, the hero is driven to complete the adventure, leaving the Special World to be sure the treasure is brought home.  Often a chase scene signals the urgency and danger of the mission.

11.     THE RESURRECTION.  At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home.  He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level.  By the hero’s action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved.

12.       RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.  The hero returns home or continues the journey, bearing some element of the treasure that has the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed.