There is a moment when I feel the forest in my body. When I step out of the car at the trailhead, the change is palpable. The quiet is immense. My soul breathes a sigh of relief.
It’s a different kind of communication, between my heart and the forest. It’s one of the senses. Hearing the quiet between the sounds of the birds twittering and my boots along the path. Feeling a gentle breeze against my skin, or the cool wet of misty rain, or the warmth of sunshine. Smelling the new growth of the earth or scent of spring blooms. And seeing, my primary sense, is enhanced. Seeing what is and what could be, through my camera’s lens. Feeling the abundance of having so much to photograph I can leave most of it alone, and only stop for what truly moves me.
As I sit here writing this I’m struck by the contrast in sound the most. It’s early morning and I’m the only one awake, but the house is not quiet. There is the ticking of the clock. The faint high-pitch whine of the computer. The whir of the refrigerator. The spit of sprinklers turning on in the yard. Trucks rumbling along the nearby street.
Maybe that’s why my soul breathes such a sigh of relief at the trailhead. I must need the quiet of the forest. Stilling the sounds of everyday life for just a little while, so I can hear my true thoughts and desires well up from deep within.
Shhh… What do you hear?
such beauty on your blog!
Thank you so much!
I love the sounds of the woods. Sometimes that change is so strange, it feels so quiet at first. But, then not quiet at all!
So true – quiet and then not-quiet, after you get used to the different sounds.
This is exactly how I feel when I go for a photowalk along the beach, especially in winter when there are few people present. My soul breathes a sigh of relief, just like yours does in the forest. =)
Perfect!! I love the beach too, but I’ve never lived close enough to be able to walk there often. I wonder if I would feel the same way at the beach?
Even in the middle of the day when in the McDonald there may be the sound of traffic in the distance, your brain filters it out so that all you hear are the birds and the breeze rustling the leaves.
That might be true, but I couldn’t tell you, because I’m usually breathing so hard climbing up the big hills!
Quiet and not quiet…I love that. Your pictures are gorgeous Kat.
Thank you so much!
While I live ‘in the forest’ it is when I am in the desert, with vast land around me – all jaggedy and wild – that I have the feelings you talk about. I feel as if I am the only one alive in the world and that the world is spread out above me and below me and I am really and truly a part of it. Love your words today, and always.
It is interesting that we all have places that speak to our soul, and they are truly unique to each of us. The commenter after yours feels the exact opposite.
Your picture makes me think of the noise and action that is all around us. Then there is that blessed quiet and peace that flows through us…the place where we must go or be to reconnect to ourselves. It is an amazingly creative piece. Love it!
During these last six months of limbo and living close to my parents during this time of my Dad’s terminal cancer I discovered that I do not like the desert. I couldn’t “hear” anything there. Now we are in the mountains and I am “hearing” once again. The sound of the wind through the tall pine trees delights and inspires me.
I imagine your soul has experienced a big sigh of relief, being among the mountains again! Soak up as much of that feeling as you can, for the next trip to the desert. I wonder how we can store it up?
Thanks, Kat. I needed the reminder, too.
I too love walking in the forest. When we go to Ludington State Park, MI, we always take a trail through the forest. The silence of nature, an elixir for the soul.