Lost in Nature : A Reflection.

My mind is constantly racing; going everywhere and nowhere.

Daily life is fast-paced, never slowing or stopping.

Work hard, don’t rest. You don’t get what you want if you don’t run yourself into the ground, I tell myself.

Negative thoughts, the mean things that people say, the uncertainties of my future, and the feelings of not having any idea what I’m doing or where I’m going crowded my head.

So, I went outside. More specifically, in the middle-of-nowhere woods.

I felt…. nothing.

Not nothing in a bad way though.

This nothing felt more like rest.

It felt like for the first time in a while, I was able to shut off my brain from thinking about the “real world.” I was so captivated by the beauty of the trees, the moss, the little mushrooms growing on the damp fallen trees; I simply did not have the time to focus on anything else.

It felt like for the first time, I could breathe. I could think clearly yet think nothing at all.

The woods, I have found, possess the power to bring us back to our very core. God made us from the dust of the Earth, and going back to nature is where I truly feel the most surrounded by His presence.

It’s not that He is not with us everywhere that we go, but my clear and relaxed mind is more able to realize that it is Him that I need.

I have since made it a habit to spend more time in the woods, away from the distractions of “real life.” By doing so, I am able to find myself in God, lost in nature.

I encourage you to create more time to spend in nature. Be alone with the wind and the water and the dirt and the grass. Let their calmness relax your mind. Let the silence of the forest cause you to go back to your roots. Experience the world that is around you and for just a moment, forget about things.