You think I’m making this up?
Posted by Robin Easton
GREETINGS EARTHLINGS!
The other day I badly needed a break. I felt tired from working long hours and pretty much seven days a week. So I took the morning off and went to the mountains. Although I wondered if the hike would make me feel better or simply more drained. I felt all out of sorts from a rough week. My computer went down and I couldn’t blog. When it crashed I lost a beautiful post I was writing, which honored all the amazing people who have left comments on my site. I had links to their sites, personal comments, the works. I confess, I cried when I lost that post, pulled out a few hairs and am now partially bald, only on the sides. I look rather punk right now. It’s kinda cute. : )
Then because my computer was down I was barely able to respond to anyone, work piled up and couldn’t get done. On top of that, oh yes, this gets worse, (laughing)…some recordings I did for my website, which I’d spent a couple of weeks working on had horrible distortion to them and have to be redone. Then my leg broke out in a poison-ivy-type rash. “You think I’m making this up? I wish.” The grand finale´ to this whole saga was that I had the runs all week. So there you have it. More information than you needed. Right? (Laughing.) Nonetheless that was the course of events when I finally decided to go for a hike. Needless to say I didn’t feel excited about it like I always do, but I still readied my pack albeit in a deadened or androidic fashion, which just isn’t me. Even though I knew the ground would be muddy and my feet were a bit chilled I still wore my thin moccasins. I love to feel the Earth beneath my feet even when it’s rocky, especially when it’s rocky. It’s invigorating.
The day was sunny and warm when I arrived in the woods. I hiked along a swift moving creek, swollen with mountain runoff. Snow melted at twelve thousand feet (five thousand feet above me) and gleefully ran down the mountain, like children spilling out of a schoolhouse come spring. The creek water was literally ice cold. I usually walk right through mud, snow and ice water with my moccasins or bare feet, but maybe because I was tired I didn’t want to get my feet wet. I looked at the water and thought, “Eeeew. I don’t think so.”
I have a special relationship with this creek and have photographed it through four seasons. I love water: canoeing, kayaking, rafting, tubing and swimming, anything in water. My love affair with water includes photographing it and NOT from a distance. I sit in it, lay in it and wade in it, anything to get a good photo. But not this day. I felt too out of whack so I kept hiking. I went several miles when I spied some bright orange rocks covered with green algae streaming in the current. I completely forgot my fatigue and the cold and waded in with my camera. I immediately lost myself to the light, the current and the colors of Nature until I was sitting in mud, had mud on my face, mud on my hands and mud on my butt. An hour later found me a mile down stream, still in the water photographing light, currents and rocks.
I finally hopped onto the bank and was headed back down the trail before I realized my feet, ankles and jeans were wet to my knees. The only reason I noticed was because a wonderful warmth was seeping into my feet. It was glorious. If we are in active relationship with Nature she often forces us to feel extremes. I might be standing in freezing water one minute and then the next I’m striding along, my feet pounding sun-warmed earth, a huge grin on my face because my toes are now warmer than when I left the house. Amazing. Once again, Nature jolted me out of my malaise, my deadness from too much city living and too many demands and reminded me that I am alive……and not just partially alive but thrillingly alive. I felt no need to grind away analyzing WHY I’d had a rough week. That only wearies me. All I needed was to give myself something peaceful, something healing and filled with life. That simple.
As I strode along the creek my worries drifted away with the current. I lost myself to the sound of water tumbling over rocks, the scent of pine, damp earth and new unfurled leaves. The more I lost myself to Nature the more I found Robin. My whole body unwound, healed and reawakened. Life is good and Nature is amazing. Like the warmth in my feet she seeps in through despair, deadness, anxiety, fatigue and heals all burdens if we let her. If we let her.
Happy trails my friends, Robin
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~ “NAKED IN EDEN” ~ Available on Amazon
Did you Enjoy reading Naked in Eden? Would love a review from you, HERE. If you’ve not yet read my Australian adventure book and would like to, you can order it on Amazon HERE. “Naked in Eden” is a spirited true-life Australian adventure story, filled with personal transformation. It is wonderfully life altering for adults, teens and tweens, and would make a memorable gift. Enjoy!
Thank you
Robin
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This Site: © Robin Easton
Website: http://www.nakedineden.com
Blog: http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/
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9 Comments so far...
Whiteotter Says:
3 May 2008 at 12:18 pm.
Well hello again Robin. So glad to hear that you got to get away and find those missing parts and put them back where they belong.. (grin) I so hear you about Nature healing, but for me, sometimes this happens with out our knowledge. It took me years to realize how cranky and grouchy and just plain yuck, even, like you said, physically yuck I got when I wasn’t able to get to the mountain for a while.. even for just a few moments.
I am having a rough time today, as it is calling to me, and I have dinner plans tonight so I can’t just go.. but I think I am about caught up for a while so I will try to steal away an hour or so and go to the river before the company arrives.. Have a beautiful week and I hope your pc problems are over.. .. thanks for sharing, (even the “real” parts LOL)
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amzolt Says:
3 May 2008 at 2:42 pm.
Welcome back intrepid traveller !
“Abdu’l-Bahá likened the country to the soul and the city to the body of man, saying, ‘The body without the soul cannot live.’”
Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 81
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lizh Says:
4 May 2008 at 7:35 pm.
Oh Robin I so know what you mean! If we just allow ourselves to let go and experience the wonder and healing powers of the earth and the relaxation offered from a simple walk or ‘warming’ from the sun we would be forever carefree. ….Shed of all stresses and returning to ‘life’ reborn.
The photo you post here is almost surreal..the colors are amazing!
It’s wonderful, as always, to share in the insightful, intimate, and exuberant experiences of your ‘walks’. Thank you for painting such vivid details.
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horatiosalt Says:
4 May 2008 at 8:52 pm.
While I was reading your post, I suddenly got this mental image of a Robin Sandwich. You’re in the middle, with a slice of Technology Bread (computer and Internet and WordPress hassles) on top and a slice of Nature Bread (river, earth and sky) on the bottom. (Not on *your* bottom. Just on the bottom).
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Jack Payne Says:
5 May 2008 at 10:57 pm.
Testing, testing, testing. Just want to see if your Gate Keeper is going to let me in before I get long-winded, Robin.
ROBIN WRITES: Jack you finally made it into the inner sanctum! YEAH! KUDOS! HIGH-FIVE! I am proud to have such an esteemed journeyer as yourself! 
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Kinsey Barnard Says:
6 May 2008 at 6:12 am.
Robin!
I’m in too and happy to be here! As you well know, I totally relate with you, the healing powers of Mother Nature.
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skylar Says:
7 May 2008 at 11:01 am.
Namaste’ dear Robin, okay I must apologize ahead of time, cause I am sitting her smiling so big and laughing out loud, cause I just KNOW this journey, and I don’t feel so alone when I read yours *grin* ;0)
You allow ALL things to experience (you) , and vice’ verse’, your path is definitely not one sided, and highly interactive.
Robin I tell young people they dont need video games, that is what living is about.
metta
sky
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Lilly Says:
8 May 2008 at 5:43 am.
Do you think your bad week was a sign that you needed to let Robin breathe again. One thing, then another until you got the message to reconnect with Mother Earth. What a beautiful, heart felt and musical post. I see vivid brightly coloured pictures when I read your words. You are truly gifted. And I am envisioning that punk ‘do’. Have to laugh. Don’t forget to take a hike, Robin before you get the life sucked out of you next time! Take so much care.
PS Am catching up on your posts – its been busy all round. My nature trip in the past week or two has extended as far as a new cocktail bar. However, I too encountered some wildlife there which I will guarantee has never ever been identified before.
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Robin Easton Says:
8 May 2008 at 8:11 am.
Hi My Friends. Thank you for leaving your inspiring comments. I just reread them and had a few thoughts.
1. *WhiteOtter, *Lizh and *Kinsey Barnard: Thank you for understanding and knowing the healing power of Nature. It truly is astounding and one that I don’t believe we humans can live without. We might…maybe….survive in an exisiting sort of way if we have little connection to Nature, but I don’t believe we THRIVE or reach or full vitality and potential unless we have some kind of connection to Mother Nature. At the very least I think we need a connection to Nature within our hearts, where we are aware of the sky and wind and moods of Nature and are touched by them.
2. *Amzolt: I love these quotes and bit that you come up with out of thin air and instantly. It blows my mind. Also, I’ve always thought that Nature was the soul of me. I do know that it’s where I feel my soul the most profoundly. I like what you wrote here. It is a powerful reminder for us all.
3.) *HoratiaSalt: You comment about the Robin Sandwich is so true about me. I was tickled pink when you picked up on that. I often feel like a woman who walks between 2 worlds. One is as wild as it gets and the other is so domesticated that I can barely comprehend it. That alone makes for a wild and intriguing ride. Very insightful.
4. *Skylar: You’ve no idea how much this means to me as well. Because we all can sometimes get caught up in thinking that it is JUST US and everyone else sails along on smooth waters. So you did the very thing for ME in your comment that you said my post did for YOU. Isn’t that cool!! Loved you comment about…letting all things experience me and vice versa. Boy you really pegged me on that one, and it meant a lot to hear it. Thank you.
5. *Lilly my Aussie Gal: There is something really key in your comment. And I believe it is a good reminder for all of us. The KEY: To take time out BEFORE you get the life sucked out of you. ABSOLUTELY! Thank you for that very wise reminder.
6. *Jack Payne: I’m just glad you made it in. AND…you were the one that taught me how to make it easier for people to leave comments. Thank you thank you thank you. Bless you a thousand times!
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