Words are a fortress

Words…

Are abundant … But quality trumps quantity.

Used wisely,

They.

Comprise, compliment, buttress …. Empower.

And serve as a fortress.

From those obstacles that would otherwise separate one from what lies on the horizon…

Of

Progression …

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The journey isn’t far

Sometimes beauty lies in the distance …

Perliously, within our grasp, but yet so far.

The closer we get, the more obstacles see fit to present themselves.

Daring you to meet them head on…

Do you cross or stand pat?

While you debate

Those obstacles are

Scoffing at your notion

Of conquest …

But victory is your only respite

The

path

is

often

uneven.

The fruits of the journey are wrought with beauty and peril

Leaving the climax worth it…

Is like …

Life is like a mountain …

Imposing, massive, comprised of many layers and unable to vanquished …

But, a mountain, like life itself

can be traversed and by virtue of this…

Those secrets can be laid bare for those who would dare to make sense of them.

A stream is like life …

In that there is no easy way to ford it other than moving gingerly and using our lessons as stepping stones to save us from plunging into the swirling depths.

Reaching the other side is a reward in and of itself.

But like life … Time spent marveling ones ingenuity is time wasted.

Pressing ahead is a stark contrast to the expense of staying stationary with the

certainty

of being overcome by the

actuality

of

eventuality.

Life is motion and moving in constant, concerted motion should be a given, as it always affords a better view.

On the Horizon

Looking out at the horizon…  Wrestling with the gravity …

Of the beauty that my eyes are bearing witness to.

The wonderment.

The rhymthic splashing of the water against the rocks is entrancing and takes me to another place altogether where words fail me.

I’ve never walked alone …

Often… I’ve felt as if I was alone to sort out the conundrum that life saw fit to scatter at my feet.

But… Just when I was resigned to my fate and accepted solitude as my burden, I saw the manifestation of my faith in the distance.

And I took heart in the realization that I wasn’t alone.

Then… I lost the grace that I thought was in my grasp… Crestfallen.

I labored on.. Only to find that you were only leading me to the shores of my potential ripe … With the expectations and the blessings that you mandated me to reap.

You were my lighthouse.

Sometimes the silence has to be deafening

Gunpowder River

And here I sat, bewildered at the reality that the swirling demands of my life and what I consider my “priorities” always take shape and come into focus when I’m away from “it” all, sitting the lap of nature. Often I come to the relevation that I need to change course.

I woke this morning with the noble goal of clipping coupons and heading to the grocery store. But, this simple trip turned into something else altogether. I bypassed the grocery store altogether with the mandate of figuring “it” all out, today.

I drove purposefully until I found my way to Gunpowder Falls, these winding paths, trees, assorted streams and the rushing river have served as my psychiatrist countless times over the years.

I inhaled deeply, kneeled down to lace up my boots, after observing the knot I rose to my feet and started walking, with the goal of figuring “it” out all out firmly planted in my head.

I walk until I am unable to hear the world that I left behind me and when this happens, a feeling of peace envelops me.

Making my way on the trail.

The ground is saturated with the rain from the past day so that I hear each step that I make with a sloshing consistency.

And much to my surprise many of the areas where I would sit engrossed in my thoughts in years past are flooded over, so I continuing walking North.

After coming to section of the forest that I would leisurely walk across to reach the other side, I discover it is flooded, but I am undeterred.

I push on.

So, I group all of my items into my pockets and push ahead. I make my way across the stream without falling in, much to my surprise.

Keeping my balance, even though these boots are waterproof.

As I continue on the river widens, I cautiously navigate the rocks in the river to make my way across to a subsection of small islands, where I grab a seat to bear witness to it all.

I sit here for over an hour being soothed by the sounds of the water crashing against the rocks. My mind conflicted with my futile pursuit of living life just to be living it, rather than living it with a purpose.

I’ve often heard people oversimplify the journey of life by saying that “We are born to die” but as I sit here I realize that we are born to leave a legacy, to leave the places that we inhabit in a better state than we found it in.

This is in direct contrast to being a taker rather than one who gives and enriches.

Then…

An overwhelming sense of clarity hits like a thud.

Solace is ever present here.

What is it that I am running from that I have to rediscover it here?

I’ve spent so much of my life looking at life as a adversary, angry because it has rebuffed my pleas of friendship when I would have been better served, respecting it as a teacher and being mindful that life is an exercise of living on borrowed time.

A bridge to somewhere

Often I find myself in nature’s venues where I am drawn in by my surroundings, only to wonder if what my senses are bearing witness to is a metaphor for something larger.

This area was serene, but not secluded by any sense of the word as the serenity of the surroundings were periodically cut with the buzz of cars crossing the bridge.

Be that as it may, I found that this was perfect marriage of  nature and that which is wrought by the hands of man.

I soaked it in and marveled at the ebb and flow of the river. The contrast of the leaves and the trees was comforting.

As I headed back I couldn’t shake the feeling that the bridge was a not so subtle metaphor for my next part of my journey.

Solace always puts it together

Gunpowder Falls, Md

Sometimes hearing nothing helps you to hear exactly what is needed.

Gunpowder Falls, Md

Water has the properties to flush toxins out of the body as well as flushing the toxins out of the mind.

Is it easier said than done? Possibly, but often we opt not to make it a priority.

But isn’t sanity worth it or would it be too much like right?

Soothing my soul in the best way I know how – The Falls

Rocks State Park is probably one of the most serene places in Maryland.

I often find myself here when my stress load is at its apex. Like I’ve mentioned in my previous writings, water serves as a dumping ground for what could otherwise be the insanity inducing travails of life.

Often, I sit at the streambed and not unlike a file making its way to a Smartphone or a computer… I download, my eyes are like a USB cable as they provide me connectivity with the flowing current of the water.

Eventually, I break my connection with the water and make my way 190 feet up to a natural rock outcrop that was once a ceremonial gathering place for the Susquehannock, called the King & Queen seat. And I let the wind blow through my person as I survey the life that is teeming below me.

As I make my way down from the King & Queen Seat… I know I can’t leave from the confines of the park without paying my respects to the Falls.

Kilgore Falls is what makes this area so dangerous to the element of time, as I always lose track of it, sitting at the base of the falls, being covered in the cooling mist.

The beauty that is encountered on the way is no match for the splendor of the falls. I always make sure to walk slowly, to absorb every bit of the solace. Keeping my ear trained to capture the initial sound of the falls, is an exercise in suppressing the climatic moment…

As I make my way up the path to the Falls… Each time is like it is my first.

She beckons me closer and commands that I sit… I can’t resist her and I acquiesce.

My assorted flings with Mother Nature

 

I 

Unfortunately, I am not as young as I used to be, but I am as young as I often lie about being.

With that being said, I have no qualms about getting older as it is better than the alternative, of slow decomposition or inhabiting a decorative urn in the form of ashes.

With each passing day of accumulated wisdom, I have come to the realization that this uber-connected world that I make my living in is an extremely toxic environment, I find myself needing deeper excursions into the loving embrace of Mother Nature for the purpose of loosening the tentacles that dull the sense of inner peace that I feel when I’m with her.

I have always had this amorous relationship with water… The sound, the scent of it seemingly washes away whatever is burdening me and often it becomes an act of sheer willpower to peel myself away.

 

 

 

Mother Nature undoubtedly is a drug, but unlike all drugs… Can you overdose off of solace? If so, I wouldn’t mind being the first.

 

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