A walk in the woods

The best metaphor is hiking through the woods, through a large forest. After you’ve been in the woods for a while, you learn the patterns and the rhythms of the ecosystem. You can tell when the forest starts to thin and you anticipate coming into a clearing, or maybe coming out of the forest completely. The forest is not a bad place or an unwanted place. It can be a truly beautiful and solitary place. The deep woods provide an inner quietude within which one can find big answers and deep meaning. The woods are often a place to find the answers to those long unanswered questions. Maybe it’s not just the woods, but the hike, the long periods of walking, the contemplative task of placing one foot before the other that helps provide clarity.

I keep having this feeling that I am approaching a clearing. I think the woods are thinning. There is more light coming into the forest, through the branches and the canopy is not as dense and high. I can hear birds and the occasional animal which is a significant change. I’ve been or at least felt alone for so very long. And oddly, it got lonely….is getting lonely… while this feeling that the forest is thinning expands. It seems counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t I feel the familiarity of ‘others’ as I start approaching the clearing?

But that is the nature of the woods; they are deep with meaning and mystery. So much is unknown. My task is simply to keep walking, keep a steady pace, remain sure footed and be wise and aware of my surrounding. My instinct may prove correct and the trees will clear and I will walk into a glorious meadow afield with wildflowers and migrating birds. It is but for time to reveal.

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