Roads to Joy

It’s been a long time since we took ourselves out for a walk in the woods just two doors down from us. Blame health issues and renovation challenges, or just inertia, but we finally shook off these vicissitudes and ambled forth.

Just in time to catch the dwindling bluebell display, to hear the birdsong deep in the temperate rainforest, to fondle the mossy tree trunks, and even, for me, an adventurous tightrope passage along a huge fallen branch, for fun and because I could. And, of course, to conjure up similes that might be useful in a piece like this.

Forest bathing, actually, is ‘a thing,’ I understand,.and of course it seems to have been invented by the Japanese, who know a thing or two about tranquility and well-being. Our foray didn’t last the recommended two hours of quietude, deep breathing, and contemplation of life, the universe, and everything from the micro to the macrocosm. But we still enjoyed the perambulation, and we resolved to get out more often. With improving health it’s time to re-invigorate those rarely used muscles, and breathe in some fresh air.

I can’t say we learned anything — didn’t ask ‘Picture This’ what this or that plant might be — didn’t check our phones every two minutes — though I did manage a few snapshots. It was just a gentle amble, and then we emerged out through the side rough on the golf course and ducked past the blossom-laden mallow and into our front door. Maybe we learned more about ourselves on this little sojourn; maybe we exerted ourselves to do something that we really needed to do.

But the rewards were far greater than the effort, on what felt like an effortlessly lovely day in soft sunshine, surrounded by the songs that punctuated our passage.