"Rise, free from care before the dawn and seek adventures." HDT
Have you ever read something and have it shoot like lightning through you. This quote from Henry David Thoreau did it for me. Earlier this year I was on facebook ( how about that for transcendentalism Mr. Thoreau?) and one of my good friends Jenn Eagan had it in her pictures. It was on one of those state funded plasticized signs that you can find dotting state parks... you know the ones.
I have always been a woods person. If you were to ask me right now: Ocean or Mountains? I will almost always choose mountains. There is something special about the hushed woods, deep pines, that smell, the brown needles on the ground. I remember another good Jen friend, Jennifer Goodheart, talking to me while walking around the campus of UMASS about native american remedies for stress. "Just breathe deep and walk through these pines Dave. Feel the needles brush against you and listen to how they rustle in the wind."
I have a direct affinity, I honestly believe a connection, to the woods. I need them. I need to be close to them, to know that they're there. It was one of the things that almost killed me when I moved to DC for a bit. I feel most at home with trees all around.
This quote hits me from many different angles "Rise, free from care before the dawn and seek adventures." I am a morning person. I feel lost if I don't get up consistently early and settle before my day. Like most other people, I assume, I need to shed these worries and breathe. As far as adventure... I think that that is a chapter in my life that I might dare to open this year.
"Rise, free from care before the dawn and seek adventures."
I think he had it right on many levels. I am taking his advice this year.
db
Wow, Dave. I can't tell you how startled and delighted I was to see my name appear in this post, especially since I feel your writings are reminding me again and again how I need to GET OUTSIDE and now BE WITH TREES. I also appreciate your beautiful rendition of my words. You never know what you say that people will remember! I think we may have been walking by one of my favorite mini groves on campus, which was taken down a couple of years ago. I was so startled to see it down that I brought some needles home and tinctured them in gin. Next time I see you I'll give you some of this pine gin! You can also make tea from the needles -- packed with Vitamin C. And use the sap as a sort of natural band aid. Or...feel the needles brush against your skin and listen to them rustle in the wind. :) It is true. You will be healed. Your timing couldn't be more perfect for me. I truly look forward to hearing more about your adventures this year!
ReplyDelete:) Thanks Jen. Even the thought of coming to see you some time is stress relieving.
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