Contemplative Hiking

I don’t think that people are born disliking nature. Children are drawn to animals and are natural “tree-huggers” (as well as tree-climbers!) If they dislike or fear nature, it’s because of a traumatic experience or because they’ve been sheltered from it because of growing up in an urban, human-centered environment.

And yet despite having already lived through many cold winters, practising how to keep healthy and happy throughout the cooler months becomes a challenge for many, myself included. With this in mind, I decided to put this little list together to help bring focus and remind us to cultivate good habits that will help us feel our best all winter long.

Every time I go on a hike, I notice something new that I hadn’t noticed before: an oddly shaped tree, a bright green and fuzzy patch of moss that’s especially inviting, or a bird or animal that catches my attention. The same river is never the same river twice.