On most days over the past several months, I have been enjoying a morning walk in a forest near my home.  Because I spend my days in an office engaged in the fast paced lifestyle of the “connected” world, I find that these moments help set the tone for the day.

Near the end of the walk, I get off the path, trapse down a hillside and sit on a fallen tree overlooking a small ravine.  It is there that I allow myself to be still for a few moments.  I try to drop my thoughts and let my head be quiet.  What I start to notice is that the woods are intensely alive.  They have a noise all of their own: at least 10 different types of birds chirping, bees and other insects flying around catching the sunlight on their wings, squirrels running about, and if the wind is blowing the trees themselves dance and rustle.

When we look at a stand of forest from a macro level, especially coming from our typical level of consciousness (dealing with fast paced world), it seems to be still, unmoving, and unchanging.  But when you get inside the woods – when you insert yourself into the ‘macro level’, you become the micro.  If you let yourself be silent and you adjust to this pace, you will see there is just as much energy, noise (in a good way), and change in a little stand of woods as there is in the “world around you.”

I’m not sure if there is a lesson here for you.  All I know is that it’s poetic and beautifully peaceful when I gift myself the stillness and silence to experience it.  It’s humbling really.