A Walk in the Woods | Guespost

In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike. -- Paulo Coelho

Not too long ago, I took a walk in the woods. I felt like I needed to take a break from everything… the telephone, the computer, the sounds of the neighborhood… So, I grabbed my camera and left the house. It was a walk that I’ve taken many times because the nature preserve is a short walk from my house. Was there anything new that I could discover on the path? As I started on the path, I could see that the leaves were gone from the trees. I looked down and saw that I was walking on a blanket of fallen leaves.

I had left the phone at home. I had left my home and all of my things, except for the camera, but the “real world” kept impinging on my thoughts. Was I really and truly present in these quiet woods? As I walked, I looked up, noticing how far the tops of the trees were and how they were pointing directly at the sky. The path curved, and I followed it. Slowly, the “real world” seemed less real. It was the woods that felt real: the trees that had broken and had fallen by the path, the birds flying above, the swampy areas full of water. I walked around the puddles that had formed from recent rain storms, and was soon standing on the shores of the Niagara River, looking at a grassy island. The grass had turned brown with autumn.

The geese flying above honked loudly, as they began their long journey south. Dogs and their humans walked by me. The dogs stopped when they saw me, sniffed me, and recognized in me someone who would always pay attention to a dog. With their humans’ approval, I petted the dogs and they looked at me, happy. Happiness comes more readily to a dog than to a human. By the time that I reached the marsh that flows directly from the river, I felt calm. I was not longer focused on that illusion, called a “real world.” My real world was there, with the woods and the river. I looked up to the bright blue sky and saw that the sun had fallen low to the west. It would soon set. It was time for me to leave this beautiful space, full of peacefulness, and head home.

I walked home calmly, happy to be where I was at that moment. The blues in the sky had deepened and were joined by pink clouds and by the yellow of the disappearing sun. It had been a good journey, albeit a different journey from ones that I had experienced earlier and, undoubtedly, different from future journeys in the same space.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Alice, for this wonderful post! Happy to be hosting you on my blog today!

Alice Gerard is a journalist, blogger, gardener, and artist, who lives near Niagara Falls, New York, near the border between the United States and Canada. She enjoys walking long distances and photography. She blogs at “Alice’s Grand Adventures” and can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. 

This post is written for the December bloghop #mymojo with Shalzmojo 

Linking up for #wordsante with Namysaysso for every post deserves some love!

____________________________________________________________________________________