Blog 26: Tree Hugger's Delight

I am a little bit of a hippie in some ways, I'll admit. Peace and love, groovy. I do not actually hug trees and I am not a bleeding heart environmentalist, but I do so enjoy nature. For some reason, things like hiking and climbing up mountains provoke deeper thought than running on a treadmill or strolling through the mall. Henry David Thoreau, whose fame is partially due to the two years he spent living in a cabin in Walden Woods, says this about his experience:

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

I guess it's sort of pretentious to be quoting a transcendentalist writer (of a literary group I generally dislike), but I think that he really understood how much the sound of trees and the sight of wildlife can affect your mind. Sunday I was in Sparta, TN (the booneys) and yesterday I hiked the Chimney Tops (for you squares who aren't reading my spankin' new travel blog: The Nearsighted Nomad: A Tennessee Travel Diary). Both days I just felt totally at peace. I'm sure it has something to do with biology- cleaner air, less free radicals or something- but regardless, I have felt more reflective. I don't mean reflective as in I'm shiny or mirror-like, of course. I mean that I just feel like my entire mind is opened up just a little bit more. In the span of two days I have come up with several ideas which may in fact turn out to be fantastic. I feel inspired. I feel closer to God. Reading your Bible and praying are vital parts of Christianity, but I really think steeping yourself in His creation is a necessary third dimension to that understanding. If nothing else, it will remind you how beautiful He is. But in my experience, it also catalyzes thought-provoking conversations about the nature of belief.

Even if you talk the whole way, there is so much quiet in a natural setting. I think it just gives your mind the chance to breathe. It also forces your body to breathe more, if you're hiking like I did yesterday. Let me just tell you, I sounded like a freight train. haha, The Chimney Tops Trail is a steep route. But I have to say, one of my favorite ways to bolster a faith that can move mountains is to spend time up in the mountains.