My fingers traced the cool wetness. It was an easy drifting gesture that left me feeling peaceful. I plopped down beside a stream and lazily dipped my fingers in. It was a gentle one, reminding my busy mind to slow down, and let go of its chatter.
  I sat on the damp moisture of the earth and it touched me like a soft cool hand over my brow after a long hot hike. There was a fragrant scent in the air above me that only nature brings as a gift. I became aware of its dewy, soft, yet faint vanilla smell that enriched the inbreath and quieted the outbreath.

  My ears turned to capture a familiar chirping cheery melody by some birds I could not name. As my eyes drifted upward, I beheld Stalwart trees so tall I could not see the sky, but could feel their strength in the sturdiness of their broad rugged-bark trunks. 

  I eyed the golden sunlight streaming through their outstretched arms. The benefits of being outdoors in sunlight are many. It promotes mental health stress reduction, and the ultraviolet ray of the sun stimulates production of vitamin D. Vitamin D helps us enhance immune functioning, supports our bones, and provides additional general health functioning. 

  As I saw a branch of pine needles on the ground, I stripped some needles off and began to chew on them. They tasted healing. I recalled that pine needles are high in Vitamin C and A.

Pine needle tea offers a long list of antioxidant benefits. For example, they are analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial. antioxidant, antiseptic, antiviral, astringent, detoxifying, disinfectant, and improve circulation. The tea relieves exhaustion, fatigue, and is a restorative tonic. Pine needles have been used medicinally for hundreds of years.

  Our Rim Country evergreen pine trees still stand having served us for a very long time. We have the largest stand of Ponderosa Pine Forests in the country.

  When comparing the pine needles in our forests to the Chapparal bush in our desert, both share similar helpful health benefits. Many items on the benefits list of pine needles are also true of the desert plant Larrea Tridentata (Chaparral) featured in one of my earlier articles).

  I breathed in deeply again and then gently let my body relax into the earth. Mother earth, at this moment, was giving me all I needed to be in the present moment. The present moment is truly a gift. Someone once said, that is why it is called a present.

  We all know that healing happens on many levels. Our physical body needs certain basic cares, our mental body requires a modicum of positive input and output, our emotional aspects of our being work best when we honor the true longings of our heart, and our souls know instinctively how to reach far beyond our physical plane understanding to enrich our spiritual well-being.

  My spiritual teachers of the past always encouraged their students to work on whatever level feels best for them at the present time because all our systems are interconnected. We cannot improve one without enhancing the others. How smart and convenient that all our parts are interconnected! They are always speaking quietly to each other.

  I stretched lazily and slowly. How delicious it felt to savor these moments and movements with intention. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to attend to. Just enjoy “being” – in this moment in the forest.

  Getting outdoors in nature always helps put my own nature in harmony and peace. I pondered how this process is so simple? I had done it many times before too. Yet, nature being in its rightful processes, whether budding out, displaying its glorious colors, or in dying process, was always in harmony no matter what stage of life it was expressing.

  Spending time outdoors in nature, helps me remember what is important as I journey through the seasons of my own life. It also helps me focus on the present moment, not past regrets, or wistful unpredictable futures. Peace can be our purpose and our passion if we stop worrying about the hectic mayhem of our world crises and the personal challenges presented to us each day. Everything external is “a passing show.”

  I try to remind myself that I am a spiritual being having a physical life experience.

  What is my streamside New Year’s Resolution? To keep my life simple enough to enjoy some time outdoors each day, even if it means consciously and with appreciation walking my dog around our beautiful lake several times.

  Even walking can be a meditation. I recall attending a long retreat with Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh at his Deer Creek Monastery. Each morning at sunrise, we would walk with him in silence up to the top of the mountain. There was a large group of participants in this retreat, but when we walked to the mountain top each morning you could hear a pin drop on the trail. Silently and sacredly, we moved.

  He showed us the “empty step”- a process in which the foot you were to step with next would gently touch the earth in slow motion. Tenderly caressing the ground with slow and mindful steps. All was done with a mindfulness as if that was the only blessed act you would accomplish that morning. He taught mindfulness was the path to peace, and reflected those thoughts in his book Touch the Earth.

  Making each moment of our day important by being mindful of each step (thought or communication) can keep us present and living consciously in each moment.

My 2022 New Year’s resolution? It is to simplify my life by clearing out clutter, to sanctify it by being mindful of my intentions and actions, and to live in gratitude for whatever the day brings (as a gift to be appreciated or my valuable gift to learn from).

I wish for each of you that 2022 will unfold with heartwarming experiences, peaceful heartedness, and a rekindled sense of connectedness with all of nature, especially your own sacred nature!


  May this year be beautiful, like you!