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Oct 05
2010
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Lessons from the ForestPosted by Alan Seale in Untagged |
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I'm sitting in the forest in the south of Holland surrounded by birds and green. Although it is autumn here, the leaves are still on the trees. My friend Gabriella offers me her cottage here in the forest whenever I come to Holland. I am so blessed by her generosity.
This morning I was walking in the forest on one of the many trails and I suddenly realized that I wasn't really there. My mind was lost in thoughts about the Transformational Presence Coach Training that begins tomorrow an hour north of here. It will be the first time to offer that training as a five-day residential intensive and I am very excited about that. Yet in that moment walking in the forest, my mind was already in the days to come. I wasn't seeing and experiencing the stillness and beauty of the forest at all!
Such a great reminder. Even when my mind was lost in wonderful thoughts, they were still keeping me from experiencing the wonder of my surroundings right now. And so I brought myself back to the forest--the gentle crackle of dried leaves and pine needles under my feet, the specks of sunlight dancing on the forest floor, the squirrels busy preparing for winter, and the woodpecker pecking away at a dead tree.
In that moment I also realized that, even though I was walking in the forest, as long as my thoughts were somewhere else, I wasn't really benefiting from the deep peace and stillness of my surroundings. I had to be not only physically present in the forest but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually present. As soon as I made that shift, I felt a shift inside. I was breathing more deeply and more slowly. My posture straightened up even more. I was aware of the many scents in the air. I was able to become one with the forest. Yet when I drifted away in my thoughts, I was very much an outsider in the forest.
Such a great metaphor for life. If I want to be an "insider" in life--to be fully engaged in the flow of all that is happening, I have to be fully present there, not someplace else
I'll be away from this forest for the next few days, but I look forward to my next walk there and practicing staying fully present to where I am and all that the forest offers me.







