I reconnected with my deepest passion while photographing a mother bear and three cubs. The video contains the story and images.
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As I descended into the shadowy forest, beams of light pierced the dark green of the fir and spruce trees as the sun illuminated low clouds hugging the high elevation. I stopped to take it in, to breathe in the wonder. Two hikers behind me, that had been mindlessly chattering and chittering, came up behind me and I actually shushed them. Not an aggressive ‘SHUSH’ but a gentle reminder that we were standing in a sacred moment.
They gasped and stopped to behold the wonder. How could anyone be oblivious to such powerful beauty? I guess this is why I prefer to hike alone and space myself away from others, especially those that never just ‘shut the heck up.’
My tolerance for noise goes down as I open to the gifts that silence brings me. And it’s not just talking or human-created noises, it’s background sounds like email and text pings…like the person in an astronomy club meeting last night that never silenced their phone. All through the program…ping…ping…ping…ping…ping…ping….ping.
Interestingly enough, the program was on silence…a quiet zone. I am laughing out loud as I type this…ping….ping….ping went the cell phone as the film focused on a huge quiet zone.
The Greenbank Observatory was the subject of the film. The small community of people that live around it agree to no cell phone usage, no wify (wired ethernet is okay), bluetooth, or anything that would interfere with the world’s largest movable radio telescope. I was fascinated how much support the observatory has from the West Virginia community, even when they must maintain a quiet zone of 13,000 square miles. That’s 10 miles around the telescopes or about 107 miles wide and 120 miles long.
When is the last time you stepped outside the noise of your life? Do you remember the quiet at the center of your being?
As our small group discussion about the film ended, the conclusion I drew? As humans, we are like the radio telescopes. We need silence to function properly. Why? We need to re-learn how to listen. To our hearts, to Nature, to the pulse of life beating within us.
How can you create a quiet zone in your life? How does doing this create more space in your life?
Probably my favorite hike ever. The forest was welcoming during a rainy day and I found such strength in the climb up the mountain and peace as I stood in stillness accepting the support of the mountain spirits.
Last Tuesday I was walking down Alum Cave trail from the summit of Mount LeConte. It was my second day of summiting the mountain and the fourth day of hiking over a five-day weekend. I was feeling clear, balanced, grounded, a bit tired, and interestingly…decluttered.
It suddenly struck me, on that beautiful trail, that there were no signs, no billboards, no modern-day clutter on that trail…on any trail in the Smokies. Rather than be bombarded with mental clutter advertising ridiculous possessions none of us even need, Nature offers plants and trees and rocks and vistas and moving water and sky and wildlife—something we are part of, instead of an artificial world of gadgets that utilize resources that will be forgotten within weeks or less and tossed in the trash.
I gained clarity on that hike. I don’t just hike the trails to be in Nature, I hike to escape an increasingly chaotic materialistic fake world that is soul-sucking. I go into Nature to be renewed, restored, and decluttered.
While social media can be helpful and connect people, these days it seems only to create more chaos within us and divide us even more. So, unplugging on the trail is a big part of why I hike. Of course, I can do that every day as I attempt to declutter my mind by limiting time on social media and taking Nature breaks during my work days.
During these times of intense collapse and renewal…and yes, it’s happening at the same time…what are you doing to declutter your mind and heart? Find what works for you and make it a daily practice. And maybe turn your attention to the renewal part of the world stage and focus on what you want to create. When we declutter, we create more space to live in a more harmonious world. Let’s built that world together.
