Don’t you just love a walk in the woods? The smell of bark and leaves, or as in my country: pines. Today I went for a walk in a national park near where I live, with my 3-year-old. The sun was shining and even though November in the northern hemisphere is not that exciting and exotic, it was a beautiful day. The sun beams glittered between the branches – its energy warming our
faces.
I had my good shoes on and nothing could stop me.
When we reached one of the the lakes I was very surprised to see it was actually frozen over, even though it was +6C degrees. Yes +6 sounds cold but freezing water needs freezing temperature to freeze remember, so it was very strange. The lake was completely blank and dark. The whole forest mirrored itself in the surface, the lake was portraying a great dark forest underneath the real dark forest. A great contrast to the light sun.
And if that wasn’t enough, there were amazing ice-formations in the trees. It literally looked as if someone had hung up ice creations on the branches. I cannot describe it well enough to make it justice. I’ve seen a lot of ice and snow in my life but nothing like this. Truly magical. I felt as if I was in a fairy-tale forest or as if we had transported ourselves to a different dimension.
Before we took off on this excursion, I had this vision of us walking and talking taking, picking up leaves, sticks and all kinds of forest treasures as we laughed and hugged trees. Taking each step as it came.
I should know by now that expectations and kids don’t go hand-in-hand. Quite early on my little angel started moaning about sore legs, feeling too tired to walk and how she was scared of the dark trees. I thought to myself, ok, this is going to be a very short walk, my disappointment growing with each step.
But I wouldn’t give up that easy, so I started telling her stories about the trees, the birds in the sky and the creek that we passed. And I could sense her energies shifting. She cheered up and joined in on the story-telling. She was talking about the moose and the bear how we were going to hand feed them blueberries from the ground (now I was getting scared, I did not want to run into a 2 meter tall moose).
And even though the story telling helped lifting her spirits, I realized it still wasn’t going to take us very far. Being the 10-year-experienced mum that I am, I had a bag of meatballs, cookies and a bottle of water with me (ok it’s a weird pic-nic but it worked). So after a refueling session she was happy as a bee.
And my dream day unfolded exactly like I pictured it, no better actually. It was divine to soak up the energies from the trees. Me and my gal were chasing each other between the trees and hugging the thick trunks of enormous oak, pine and birch trees. I was giggling like a 3-year-old and we were picking up sticks and rocks, splashing in puddles and listening to the wood pecker.
I also sent this wish to the sky asking something or someone to show me where the autumn mushrooms grew. And it only took a minute before my baby girl said we should change direction onto another path, and there they were, a whole family of luscious golden mushrooms (magic but not in the sense you might think). This is quite a miracle in itself because chanterelles should not be growing this late in season, and the freezing temperature of the night should’ve gotten the last one if ever there were one.
Anyhow, we quickly picked them up and put them in the empty meat ball bag.
So this whole experience got me thinking. Why is it that we don’t spend more time enjoying Mother Nature. Well why I don’t anyway. We lead such stressful lives in this modern world, rushing from one meeting to another, picking up kids from school early so we don’t look like bad parent, continuing working after the kids have gone to sleep. Rushing to board meetings, group meetings, swimming classes and soccer training. But
when do we breathe? When do we hug a tree?
We pay expensive money for stress reducing courses, yoga classes and spa treatments when the best medicine is right in front of our eyes: nature.
Why don’t we take a day off and go for a walk or simply sit on a beach and breathe for a day. Bring a friend or your children if you can and want to, or go alone, be alone, listen to your own thoughts. Or try and not think at all.
Research show that even 5 minutes in a city park makes wonders for reducing our stress levels. 5 minutes of silence every day, simply contemplating, does miracles.
I literally live on the forest, but still I only go there once in a blue moon.
Something’s gotta change.
I’m gonna change.
Tomorrow, on my way to work, I’m hugging another tree. And don’t you dare laugh at me when you see me. Or actually please do, because I strongly feel we also need to laugh a whole lot more.
Love and peace to you all, and take care of yourselves!
Pernilla
faces.
I had my good shoes on and nothing could stop me.
When we reached one of the the lakes I was very surprised to see it was actually frozen over, even though it was +6C degrees. Yes +6 sounds cold but freezing water needs freezing temperature to freeze remember, so it was very strange. The lake was completely blank and dark. The whole forest mirrored itself in the surface, the lake was portraying a great dark forest underneath the real dark forest. A great contrast to the light sun.
And if that wasn’t enough, there were amazing ice-formations in the trees. It literally looked as if someone had hung up ice creations on the branches. I cannot describe it well enough to make it justice. I’ve seen a lot of ice and snow in my life but nothing like this. Truly magical. I felt as if I was in a fairy-tale forest or as if we had transported ourselves to a different dimension.
Before we took off on this excursion, I had this vision of us walking and talking taking, picking up leaves, sticks and all kinds of forest treasures as we laughed and hugged trees. Taking each step as it came.
I should know by now that expectations and kids don’t go hand-in-hand. Quite early on my little angel started moaning about sore legs, feeling too tired to walk and how she was scared of the dark trees. I thought to myself, ok, this is going to be a very short walk, my disappointment growing with each step.
But I wouldn’t give up that easy, so I started telling her stories about the trees, the birds in the sky and the creek that we passed. And I could sense her energies shifting. She cheered up and joined in on the story-telling. She was talking about the moose and the bear how we were going to hand feed them blueberries from the ground (now I was getting scared, I did not want to run into a 2 meter tall moose).
And even though the story telling helped lifting her spirits, I realized it still wasn’t going to take us very far. Being the 10-year-experienced mum that I am, I had a bag of meatballs, cookies and a bottle of water with me (ok it’s a weird pic-nic but it worked). So after a refueling session she was happy as a bee.
And my dream day unfolded exactly like I pictured it, no better actually. It was divine to soak up the energies from the trees. Me and my gal were chasing each other between the trees and hugging the thick trunks of enormous oak, pine and birch trees. I was giggling like a 3-year-old and we were picking up sticks and rocks, splashing in puddles and listening to the wood pecker.
I also sent this wish to the sky asking something or someone to show me where the autumn mushrooms grew. And it only took a minute before my baby girl said we should change direction onto another path, and there they were, a whole family of luscious golden mushrooms (magic but not in the sense you might think). This is quite a miracle in itself because chanterelles should not be growing this late in season, and the freezing temperature of the night should’ve gotten the last one if ever there were one.
Anyhow, we quickly picked them up and put them in the empty meat ball bag.
So this whole experience got me thinking. Why is it that we don’t spend more time enjoying Mother Nature. Well why I don’t anyway. We lead such stressful lives in this modern world, rushing from one meeting to another, picking up kids from school early so we don’t look like bad parent, continuing working after the kids have gone to sleep. Rushing to board meetings, group meetings, swimming classes and soccer training. But
when do we breathe? When do we hug a tree?
We pay expensive money for stress reducing courses, yoga classes and spa treatments when the best medicine is right in front of our eyes: nature.
Why don’t we take a day off and go for a walk or simply sit on a beach and breathe for a day. Bring a friend or your children if you can and want to, or go alone, be alone, listen to your own thoughts. Or try and not think at all.
Research show that even 5 minutes in a city park makes wonders for reducing our stress levels. 5 minutes of silence every day, simply contemplating, does miracles.
I literally live on the forest, but still I only go there once in a blue moon.
Something’s gotta change.
I’m gonna change.
Tomorrow, on my way to work, I’m hugging another tree. And don’t you dare laugh at me when you see me. Or actually please do, because I strongly feel we also need to laugh a whole lot more.
Love and peace to you all, and take care of yourselves!
Pernilla
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