conscious change Archives -

The Twelve Hikes Challenge

By Simone Lipscomb | January 1, 2025

Over the course of 12 days away from work, I finished a goal I set to hike each day. I called my self-challenge, The Twelve Hikes of Christmas. Over the course of this time, I hiked a total of 57.63 miles and had an elevation gain of 9302 feet. No records, but that wasn’t the reason I did this.

I chose a word to describe each hike and this is what I ended up with, in order: Celebration, Foundation, Challenge, Beauty, Fun, Recovery, Reconnection, Adventure, Solitude, Expansive, Grief, Peaceful.

The overall takeaways from the challenge were: Setting goals helps me maintain momentum; Nature is the ultimate ‘everything’ for me; being able to adapt to changes brings joy.

I hiked easy trails, icy trails, challenging trails. I saw devastating loss of grandmother trees. Every experience was valued.

As I hiked, I worked on getting clear on my path forward and how I want to contribute to raising of consciousness on the planet. But mostly, I simply enjoyed being outdoors in places of amazing beauty.

High winds or icy conditions on the road through the national park hindered some hikes I envisioned doing. I didn’t get to hike a favorite trail I really wanted to hike. The one day I could have, I chose a new trail and found it might be a new favorite. Moving forward in life, I was reminded to trust my intuition and how things come together. It will be exactly what I need and want.

I have been in a magical world of Nature for 12 days, so the next challenge is to stay peaceful and grounded as I move back into the muggle world of a ‘job.’ Prior to my time off, I was struggling to go outside and walk after eight-hour work days. I need to prioritize going outside each day and enjoying Nature, no matter what. This is vital for my wellbeing.

Day	Date	Location	Word	Elevation Gain	Mileage
1	Dec 21	Oconaluftee River Trail	Celebration	52 feet	3.26 miles
2	Dec 22	Deep Creek	Foundation	243 feet	3.51 miles
3	Dec 23	Lonesome Pine	Challenge	2454 feet	6.88 miles
4	Dec 24	Ramsey Cascades	Beauty	2323 feet	7.95 miles
5	Dec 25	Jump Off—AT	Fun	1588 feet	6.55 miles
6	Dec 26	Oconaluftee River Trail	Recovery	46 feet	3.28 miles
7	Dec 27	Bradley Fork—Hitching Post Falls	Reconnection	466 feet	5.87 miles
8	Dec 28	Deep Creek/Indian Creek	Adventure	715 feet	8.02 miles
9	Dec 29	Oconaluftee River/Blue Ridge Parkway	Solitude	194 feet	3.11 miles
10	Dec 30	Williams Pulpit Bartram Trail	Expansive	1093 feet	4.12 miles
11	Dec 31	Asheville Botanical Gardens	Grief	102 feet	1.2 miles
12	Jan 1	Kituwah	Peaceful	26 feet	3.88 miles

To Infinity and Beyond!

By Simone Lipscomb | December 31, 2024

***Pleiades, or commonly called the Seven Sisters***

Buzz Lightyear is an optimistic character in the movie Toy Story. He’s excited about the future and illustrates that by saysing, “To infinity and beyond,” several times in the movie. Recent star gazing has helped me become optimistic about the future as well.

Watching Orion rise last night and slowly, ever-so-slowly, make its way above the bare limbs of the trees, I felt myself slow down and drop into stillness. I explored other areas of the night sky as I patiently waited for the nebula to clear the branches of my tree friends. Slowing down, I felt the comforting reality of Nature’s rhythms that will be here long-term. Everything else dropped away…concerns, worries, politics. Gone, lost in the star dust from light years away.

Perhaps our only task is to align ourselves with the seasonal rhythms, the dance of stars and planets, and learn what it means to be aligned with Life. Maybe we can lay down the fight against each other, against the planet, and remember…in our deepest core…what it means to live in Oneness with all life. It’s time to insert ourselves back into the workings of the Universe and stop trying to rule it with our human egos.

I’m excited to enter a new calendar year with optimism that we can remember how to work cooperatively with all life…and especially each other. To infinity and beyond, sisters and brothers! To infinity and beyond.

Peace of the Forest

By Simone Lipscomb | November 7, 2024

We began walking in the gray, pre-dawn light. The air was chilly, but not cold. The sound of the creek tumbling over boulders and smaller rocks provided our hiking music. I was excited to share this magical trail with a dear friend, visiting from the coast of Alabama.

The day before, we hiked in freezing temperatures up the Bypass Trail at Kuwohi and then on to Andrews Bald. We shared deep soul conversation as we enjoyed the fir and spruce forest. This day, we were silent as we began the ascent. That silence opened a doorway for complete peace to be birthed.

In the weeks leading up to the very polarized election, we were experiencing stress, anxiety, and all the other feelings that occur when democracy is at stake. The forest embraced us in its silence and soothed our ragged emotions.

At one point, we stopped and just breathed with the trees. It’s a powerful practice to do solo; however, having a soul-sister join in the mindfulness practice made it magical. Imagine if more of us practiced breathing together…add the trees and we’d light up the world.

Now, two days after the election, I give space for my sadness and deep grief. I think back to the stillness we found on the trail last Sunday. I know I’ll return there this weekend to walk to the top of the mountain, through the enchanted trees, seeking peace and stillness they offer. But today, I’m there in my mind, breathing with trees that remind me that in this moment, I am okay—our country is okay. One breath at a time, we’ll find our way.

Loss & Beauty

By Simone Lipscomb | October 12, 2024

There have been so many images and reports of horrendous destruction. Absolute unbelievable loss of property and life…and more lives will be reported lost as recovery efforts continue. Helene showed us how dangerous hurricanes can be, hundreds of miles from landfall.

It’s been challenging to wrap my brain around this happening within miles from my home. Power never went out for me, I just lost cell phone service for several days. Places near me had flooding: Bryson City, Dillsboro, and Cherokee, but none of it was serious…not compared to Waynesville, just a bit further east. Or Asheville. Spruce Pine. Crusco. Canton. Marshall. Black Mountain. Swannanoa. And so many more places. Being in the eye of the storm had definite advantages this time and the east side…the ‘bad’ side…was certainly the wrong side of the storm to be on.

I used to live in one of the hardest hit areas. Many of my friends still live there. They are suffering. Friends in Asheville…suffering. Business owners, people with missing or dead members of their family/friend group…suffering. It’s challenging to know how to deal with something of this magnitude affecting so many.

So, I’ve done the only thing I know to do to find balance: I’ve gone deeper into Nature. Last weekend, it was a hike up Kuwohi. And Thursday night, it was a drive up Kuwohi to see the aurora.

I stood outside, under a canopy of stars, and tried to stay warm in the near-freezing temperatures. The hazy red glow of the aurora and the occasional white streaks of light, kept me transfixed, completely focused on the sky.

I spent about an hour at the large parking lot and then moved my car down the mountain, little-by-little, where I would stop for half an hour or more. I’d open the moon roof and my window and prop my phone on the mirror, the side of the car, or on top of the roof and take 10 second exposures. My entire focus was on being still and receiving beauty.

One parking place had a small trickle of water dripping down the side of the mountain. I sat inside my car and felt the mountain’s presence with me. It was as if an elder was sitting with me observing the beauty, helping me stay present.

I didn’t want to drive home, but after four hours of cold, I needed to get warm. And it was midnight. But one last treat awaited me on the way home.

Bull elk had blocked the road with their sparring. They were bugling and claiming their cows as the aurora lit up the sky. Seemed sort of a perfect way to end the evening.

Beauty has helped bring me into balance. Hiking last weekend, up the By-Pass Trail to the summit, was powerful. The summit was totally covered by the clouds, but the clouds were exactly what I needed: to feel contained.

Thursday night, the sky was crystal clear so the aurora and stars…the Milky Way…helped me expand again and begin to open to beauty…to life.

Sometimes it’s difficult to embrace beauty. When we’ve seen the ugly side of life, beauty can feel overwhelming. But at some point, we need the healing effects of beauty. Because that, too, is a part of life.

Suffering. Beauty. Loss. Beauty. Destruction. Beauty.

Rattlesnake

By Simone Lipscomb | August 18, 2024

**_{Image by Randy Ratliff, Hiking the Smokies FB group, not the snake I met.}**

A sharp, electrical buzz sounded, like a switch being flipped, about ten feet in front of my forward-moving boots. It stopped me like a stone wall. The unmistakable buzzzzzzzzz of a timber rattlesnake.

Besides fear, I could feel the power of the rattlesnake. It claimed the trail with unmistakable authority.

***^{Image by Randy Ratliff, from Hiking the Smokies FB group, not the snake I met.}***

The snake’s rattle repeatedly came to mind each time I practiced chanting and singing this past week. The voice is a way we claim our personal sovereignty with unmistakable authority, just like a rattlesnake uses its ‘voice.’

A week after the encounter with the powerful rattlesnake, I was hiking on another trail and discovered a rattlesnake that had been crushed. I stood over the lifeless body, deeply saddened by the silencing of the beautiful snake’s ‘voice.’ The contrast between the electrifying buzzzzzz and the silence was profound.

***^{Album cover art, Strumbellas 2019}***

Let us claim our voice and not be silenced.