Get Outside

Experience Wildness

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”

John Muir

If you live east of the Mississippi, and you want to visit an old-growth forest, there is one in the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina—the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. It's not huge; maybe two miles of easy-to-walk trails winding through old-growth trees and a wealth of native plants. If you've never been there, it's worth the trouble of winding roads and river crossings. It's one way for us over-civilized folks to get into the woods and still feel safe.

I've been reading a lot about wildness and the necessity to claim it both within and without. As Muir said in the quote above, the mountains, whether east or west or middle of the country, are fountains of life. Just an hour of hiking through the green, wet, earth-scented forests will call your spirit back and restore you to yourself. Waterfalls are a bonus, and provide a bolus of moving energy. We have become so accustomed to being “nerve-shaken” by traffic and the press of humanity, so irritable at the crush of cars and the rudeness of drivers, that we hardly know who we are or what has taken possession of us. People have begun to express their wildness by being aggressive behind the wheel, by sending ugly hand-signals to other drivers, and swerving angrily in and out of traffic. That's not a healthy way to demonstrate wildness, but it does point out the desperate need we have for just a little bit of breathing space.

I know it's January, and it's cold, and wet, but if you can, get outside this weekend. Breathe the moist air, look up into the trees, even if they only grow along sidewalks in your neighborhood. Listen to the birds singing. Feel the damp wind on your face. As the Taoists would advise, “Become one with the winter.” When you return to your very civilized abode in your planned and landscaped neighborhood, take a little wild back with you. Feel the wild-woman or the green-man stirring within and claim a little of their power and energy. It's easier in a forest, but what is really required is the desire and intention to reconnect with the essential wildness within you. You don't have to run someone off the road to experience it, just walk outside and gaze at the life that surrounds you. Recharge you batteries, and restore your soul.

                                                            In the Spirit,

                                                                Jane