<small>Stop and use this page as a prompt if you wish, or continue on from here. Or you could [[a mind to meander|go back to where the river begins]].</small> ---- I spent a lot of time alone in the woods as a child. Surrounded by [[nothing but the forest in total isolation]]. But I never felt alone. The earth itself buzzes in a way that only those who truly listen will understand. It’s the sound of the forest in one, less of a sound more of a feeling a deep thrumb in your heart that settles in with your own heartbeat. You become a part of that noise, your footfall matches in time with the humming of crickets and cicadas and scampering birds. It all melds together in a way that cannot be expressed in words. So I encourage you reader to go to the woods. Not one filled with people, not on a trail just you and the woods, and listen. Calm your mind long enough to hear the way we are all connected, It is a feeling of contentment that is a language of its own. Once you know how to speak it the inhabitants of the forest no longer see you as an invader they see you as one of their own. I know this well, I’ve made friends with many things that call the woods home. I have been led home by birds and given gifts from ravens. I have made friends with toads and pet bees fuzzy backs. I’ve been a place for butterflies to land and patched up moles. This was only possible because I listened, let my reservations fall away, and lived [[in time with the world around me]]. I often think that people have such intense reservations about doing something like that. Perhaps it is the way we are taught that every moment of a day is made for doing something. Or maybe it’s the disconnect we have placed between ourselves and nature. So many people will never experience the feeling of being in true nature. Not lovely manicured landscaping or a nature trail but the true feeling of being nothing but you and the woods. We all read stories about magic and have childlike fantasies of having power at our finger tips. However, so many who have those small fantasies sitting at their cubical will never experience humming in time with a bee and having them come close enough to pet them. To me what is more magical? What holds people back? Perhaps a fear of judgment? Being seen as a hippie or a crazy nature guru. I hold the same reservations when I share my feelings towards nature. They are scared of human judgment and forget that when you sit in nature the judgment falls away. The breeze does not judge it simply flows. The earth does not judge it simply lives. That in itself is a lesson that nature tries to teach us. I wish those who judge could sit with me and understand. I implore you once again, to [[try and connect with the world around you]]. Experience all the world has to offer you if you listen. – Louis Keeton (Though it’s prose, this could also be an example of the [[where I’m From Poem]].)