I am setting up a little project in my community where I will be asking people to contribute blog posts about nature/ the natural world and I thought it would be fun to do the same here.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or even good… Works in progress welcome. You can stick to nature as a topic or pick something else. This is my first offering to get things started, about taking a walk through the woods as an act of kindness to myself.
Stepping into the shade of the trees almost transcends time, the beginning of a journey where endless possibilities stretch out in all directions. I tread the same path as so many others have and many more will. All of us making our own way, separately but together, part of something bigger.
A twenty minute route stretches out to an hour. Taking the time to pause, to think, to not think, to be. I amble. I stop. I look up. I reach out. I breathe in the scent of the earth and the sound of the birdsong. A twig makes a satisfying crunch underfoot. Squirrels and blackbirds scurry through the dried leaves. A robin dips down onto a fence before flying off again.
I notice. The wallpaper pattern of the rowan tree. The sun turning leaves different shades of green. The shadows and the light shining through. The twists and turns of trunks and branches, the obstacles they grew around long since disappeared. The mushrooms emerging from stumps, the growth alongside the decay. The intricate network of the wood wide web and the life it sustains.
Did a little rewrite this morning - this is the published version.
Stepping into the shade of the trees almost transcends time, the beginning of a journey where endless possibilities stretch out in all directions. I tread the same path as so many others have and many more will. All of us making our own way, separately but together, part of something bigger.
I notice. The wallpaper pattern of the rowan tree. The sun turning leaves different shades of green. The shadows and the light shining through them. The twists and turns of trunks and branches, the obstacles they grew around long since disappeared. The mushrooms emerging from stumps, the growth alongside the decay. The intricate network of the wood wide web and the life it sustains, within its boundaries and beyond them.
A twenty minute route stretches out to an hour. I amble. I stop. I look up. I reach out. I breathe in the scent of the earth and the sound of the birdsong. A twig makes a satisfying crunch underfoot. Squirrels and blackbirds scurry and skid through the dried leaves. A robin dips onto a fence before taking off again.
I move through the calm one step, one moment at a time. Expectations and their resentments find their place of irrelevance. The centuries of history here puts my drama into perspective - a scene or even a solitary line. The chaos in my mind quiets and the tension melts, teeth unclench. Finding the space to pause, to think, to not think, to be.
Ah recording it is a really nice idea. I might mention that for my project too, to encourage people who aren’t very confident with writing to get involved
Well… I don’t think recording is easier then writing.
At least for me it isnt when i try to record some of my work i get super critical. Nothing is good enough and eventually i don’t post it on my page
Yea personally I would prefer to write as well, if I had to choose between the two. Easier to edit and move things around! Although I don’t do a lot of writing so this was a different experience for me.
Thank you for sharing your writing. You’re very creative. I like words you’ve chosen and put them exactly in order to create something beautiful I can feel the calm and peaceful energy of the nature. Thank you very much.
PS: I would love to write something like this too. But English is not my first language and I’m still making a lot of mistakes and I don’t know properly the grammar I might make mistakes in this text too
“She is waiting for you, O Lord. Go to her. She is waiting for you.”
He walked through the dead bodies. Rats and dogs were feeding on dead men. He was looking for her. But she was not there. Not among the dead.
She was alive. He felt a huge surge of energy. She was alive.
He ran out into the field. Thanking the gods. Thanking them she was alive. But she was missing. Where was she?
He walked out into the field, arms spead wide. She came to him. From the forest. Like a bad dream.
She stood before him covered in mud and in blood. He touched her. For the first time, he felt her skin under his fingers. She was ok. She was not wounded. It was someone else’s blood.
The cat sat high in a tree and watched him as he walked through the jungle. He did not know he was being watched. He was being hunted. He was the prey.
“It has to be done. It is my destiny. I have to go alone.” They sat silently for a long time. In the afternoon he started walking North, into the mountains. There was a long journey ahead of him. He was walking to the Asura kingdom in the mountain plateaus and cold deserts. He was hunting again.
I can feel the calm and peaceful energy of the nature. Thank you very much.
I might make mistakes in this text too