An Upside Down World

Rose

One day last week I awakened before the light of day and I went to my window and felt the coolness of the early morning air pouring in. I looked up and noticed fast moving multi-layered clouds very close to earth. They were streaming quickly through a deep blue sky and after awhile it seemed as though I was looking down rather than up; down into cold water watching sheets of ice flowing by. I was overcome with awe in being treated to this (secret) supernatural experience of the night.

That morning I awoke feeling buoyed up by nature, quite similar to the feeling I feel each time I go wilderness camping.

When camping in the wilds it usually takes me a few days to attune to nature. My muscles stretch as I paddle and hike. I get sweaty and dirty and connect to the wilds through the roughness of rock and the softness of the forest floor. I breathe in the aroma of pine needles and decaying leaves. I’m warmed by the sun and refreshed by the wind. I’m mesmerized by the ups and downs of the loons, the sunset and the moonrise.

It’s while I’m swimming usually on day two, I’m taking stroke after stroke, and it seems as though I’m no longer moving through the water rather I am the water. This oneness with nature is a beautiful free feeling that instantly dissolves all of my cares.

And if I’m lucky, on a clear night, I’ll step out from the comfort of my tent and walk a few steps through the forest to an opening at the lake’s edge where I can look up to a sky of endless stars. I’ve paddled in a calm lake at night a few times with the sky perfectly reflected so much so, it seems that I am encircled by stars.

It’s at times like this that I wonder how we as humans ever manage to look away from nature long enough to be overtaken by the mundane.

And yet we do.

We get overwhelmed by a multitude of tasks, details that boggle our minds, distractions that make us uneasy and life situations that don’t seem to have any hope of resolve.

Clouds

Until in a moment, we look up from our preoccupations and notice a sky with puff ball clouds or an unfurling rose and because we are deeply in need of help, we willingly let the wonder of nature take our hand.

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