Tag: Smoky Mountains
Dance…Sing…Play

Dance…Sing…Play

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I have a confession to make. Anyone that follows my writing and photography knows I hike. I have a deep love for the trails and forests that said trails meander through in the Smoky Mountains. But I don’t just hike…I dance. And since truth is a light I bear, I also sing and have been known to play one of my flutes to the creeks, trees, rocks, and today I played for a great blue heron.

It was a moment of flow, where the music of the water and the song of my soul came into harmony. I was smiling as I played in the blissful state. 

Standing on a large rock beside the creek, I recalled feeling this open in Ireland when the wind was playing standing fence pipes and I sat in the lush grass in the 5000 year old stone fort and wrote in my diary: we are like flutes, with Spirit the wind and if we open ourselves, we can be in universal harmony and allow Spirit to play us, to move us. So….I was remembering that moment and feeling that inner flow and harmony when a beautiful great blue heron flew within a few feet of me on her way to a favorite rock somewhere upstream. There’s no way to capture that image other than with words and simply closing my eyes and seeing her fly, hearing the water and flute…feeling the Oneness of us all.

Magic happens when we can be in a place of neutral stillness, with no agenda, and just follow the energy as it arises within and around us. I have received a lot of guidance about being neutral lately, of not putting myself in a position against anyone, but being in neutral and allowing that stillness, that stillpoint, to unfold. If we hook into the chaos, we feed it. So it’s a balancing act of learning to be neutral, finding stillpoint within, and staying in that place. Maybe that’s unconditional Love. 

My friend Katherine describes it like this: “True Love is Neutral. True love has no polarity. As we strive to seek that point of stillness, to hold that point of stillness as an anchor, a fulcrum, a central point of balance, around which the chaos of polarity can bring itself to Quiet, and fold itself into the same resonance of stillness…until there only exists the Neutral, the True Love.” I like her explanation. A lot.

Something special happens when I allow myself the freedom to sing, dance, and play my flute in these sacred places. I consciously acknowledge the spirits of the places, the pure essence of life, and allow myself to celebrate them and all life. There’s so much we have to grieve about in this time of chaos, but there is also so incredibly much to celebrate. 

One of the old growth trees along Ramsey Cascades Trail

What has made you dance lately? What songs are you singing? How has your soul expressed itself? Find a way to celebrate the beauty, even as the old paradigm crumbles. Refuse to hook into the chaos because it’s counting on us to feed it with anger, hatred, and fear. Step away from that trap. Feed your soul beauty and share that experience with the world.

With much love I send this out into the world.
In Clouds

In Clouds

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High elevation hiking to beat the heat gave the perfect Smoky Mountain experience early this morning. Thick clouds blanketed the mountains. White mist blew across the road as I drove to the trailhead. 

It felt strange to start a hike going downhill, but to get to Andrews Bald, that’s how it goes. It stands at 5860 feet and the trail head is at 6350 feet.  The cloud base was far below that elevation. And it was magnificent.

Wet rocks, lush ferns, water hugging my face as the clouds blew across the trail…perfect. Bird song so sweet my smile never faded. The forest feels close, so close, at these higher altitudes. Trails are carved from rocks and meander between fraser fir and red spruce trees. The smell of the firs intoxicates me every time I’m with them. It’s as if that fragrance calms me, steadies me.

When the trail isn’t cluttered with hyper, human energy and chatter, I’m able to connect deeper with my friends–rocks, ferns, trees, birds, flowers–and hear their voice so much clearer. The same can be said when I am able to stop my internal chatter. 

Clouds act as my guide to inner stillness, inner quiet. They open me to experience the forest from their perspective: moist blankets that wrap everything in their beauty.

The flame azaleas were a sharp contrast to the grays and whites of the clouds.

After enjoying the colorful, fiery beauty of the azaleas, I hiked the Bypass Trail up to the top of Clingman’s Dome and enjoyed being above the forest in the clouds.

I feel at peace, joyful, and grateful to connect deeply with the spirits of the forest. Go outside…find your inner quiet and listen to the wonders of Nature.
A Surprise on the Creek

A Surprise on the Creek

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A few feet from me, the trout rose to the surface and sighted the fly as it slowly drifted down the run. It was like an athlete carefully watching as a ball was hurled toward it and then…BAM! It caught the fly with a quick slurp. 

I’m always learning from the trout magi. Something new is revealed each time I wade and wander in the creeks and rivers of the Smoky Mountains. But besides having really good interactions with trout today, I recovered something I lost a week ago, when the water was running higher and I couldn’t reach it. And I couldn’t have been happier.

Last week, I was casting to a beautiful, deep hole, over a seam of really fast water. The elk hair caddis—with an orange hot spot for sighting—was popular with the trout that day. And then, a cast drifted a little too close to a submerged log and got stuck. I had no choice but to break off and leave the fly. It was too dangerous to wade across and rescue it. 

Today, the fly was waiting for me and the water was down a lot. I cast to the pool first but was so excited to see my fly, I stowed the fly line and waded across to retrieve the fly.

The hair and feather creation was really soggy but as soon as I waded back across the creek, I changed tippet and tied this lucky fly on. I squeezed it mostly-dry and added some gel flotant and off we went, casting and dancing with trout. 

There’s something so fun about finding something I thought I had lost. Even though it was a little fly and I hadn’t thought about it since losing it last week, it gave me great pleasure to rescue it and use it to interact with trout again.

As I waded and cast, I pondered the metaphor of re-discovering something in life that we thought was gone. Maybe an idea or dream, a skill, a friend, a job. Sometimes it’s about physically ‘finding’ a lost object, but other times it might involve re-claiming a talent or simply remembering to pause and let our heart feel love, gratitude.

The idea of letting go has been in my mind and heart lately. Letting go of how I expect or want plans to work out and being present enough to navigate daily from an informed present moment instead of trying to guess what the future holds and make decisions from that weird place. 

I was bummed about losing the fly last week, but didn’t waste energy fretting or worrying about it. I simply let it go. And then, I was thrilled it was there waiting on my return today. It’s a little ‘thing’ but holds space for much bigger ideas about letting go, waiting on the right timing, waiting on better conditions before proceeding. 

What have you rediscovered lately that has been a good surprise? How has it affected you?