by Judith Downing
Early every morning I go into the woods and I get lost. Outside the window of my sunroom is a lawn sloping down toward me and at the top edge of it is my small woods. I look out upon it as I sit inside at my table journaling, enjoying my tea and thinking about the day before and the day ahead. But in the present I am lost in that woods every bit as much as if I were actually out there.
At one side of the woods is a phalanx of tall pine trees with a gap of sky where one fell last year in a storm. At the other side is a towering River Birch with three trunks at the base and branches cascading into a canopy of shiny green leaves in the warm months. The underbrush between these two is a blanket of leafy bushes and wild greenery, clusters of fern and tiny spring blooming violets at the edge.
Year round, squirrels, birds, rabbits and an occasional fox dart in and out of this safe and fertile patch of foliage. It is never completely still, providing endless joy for me at a distance. I am lost in the life that this wooded patch provides but it also focuses my mind toward meditaion and contemplation.
How can the troubles of my life be so difficult in comparison to the daily activities of these small creatures simply struggling to stay alive, chasing each other to claim territory, flying above to seek food and shelter from danger? Their movements are a delight to me but are the means of survival for them. And how thankful I am to have this bit of natural beauty out my window when so much of our earth is being destroyed!
When the foliage is at its fullest the woods is an actual island of refuge for them while for me it is a center of beauty and peace that launches my day as the sunlight reveals the life in its midst. There is a brilliance to the tangle of bushes and trees that changes color as the day brightens and my mind calms and clears.
When I was younger I used to love to walk in the woods. Now that I can no longer do that I feel just as much a part of this woods as though I were walking through it. No one else sees this woods from the same perspective as I do. No one looks upon it as early in the day as I do. No one else gets lost in this woods as I do. It is always a bit of heaven in the day no matter what the stresses of the day before were or what the new day may bring. Everyone needs a woods to get lost in.
The Continuing Journey 