The Path

It had been an emotional morning. Not that anything in particular had happened to create emotions. These were the type of emotions that rise up when one has space and time. The sort of anxiety for no reason, but which picks on some minor issue of human life. The type of emotion which plagues the quiet emptiness of the solitary soul.

As usual, attempts to focus thoughts or quiet thoughts were initiated. 5 minutes. 5 minutes. 5 minutes. No phone call. 5 minutes. 5 minutes. 5 minutes. Still no e-mail.

Emotion is thought. Reach for a better feeling thought they said. I did. I just could hang on. Better thoughts disappeared as my feelings were too slow to grasp them. The crowd of anxiety moved back in.

And so the forest called. The forest had a nice path, beautiful trees and clean air for lungs that need to breathe deeply.

The path is cemented. Someone has brushed off the first batch of fallen leaves. The intense crackling of a foot landing on dry leaves is gone. Walking proceeds in silence.

Many leaves have fallen. Those still hanging are mostly brown with some green or yellow. Here and there, a gem, an orange maple. The orange takes my mind and stills all thought except for a wordless awe. Orange against a bright blue sky.

The path is neither flat nor straight. One cannot see beyond the next curve or over the next hill. The trees line the path in untamed existence. The old fallen ones left to rot amongst the living.

And rocks. A creative person has been here. Along the path, little piles of shale pieces. That mound looks like a man. That mound looks like a bench. That mound should fall over but doesn't.

Cold weather has silenced the cicadas. Beatles crawl cross the path. Daddy long legs. Don't step on the bugs. Rustling in the leaves is squirrels. Water falling over rocks soothes. Stop to listen to the water fall. It is a real sound, the real thing. Not an app. Pause and listen.

Then head back to the car. A purposeful brisk walk has helped the lungs to cleanse the body The forest has absorbed the emotional energy. The idea of serenity is the mood received.