An Outdoor Experience

(In my journaling class we were instructed to go outside and listen, feel, touch, smell, capturing it with words.  Why does the outdoors matter?  Here is my response.)

I’m sitting out on the deck.  It’s a bit chilly but it’s reviving my senses.  In the distance I hear geese squawking and then I hear them pass overhead.  Over on the lawn towards the road I see three geese resting.  A mourning dove coos above me.  It is mostly sunny but the end of the day is drawing nearer.  I hear a neighbor moving something on wheels.  Birds chirp.  A dog barks and a child cries out.  Below me on the lawn I see all the brown leaves that weren’t raked up in the fall. 

I get up and walk around, touching the rough bark on the maple tree next to our deck.  I look out over the still stream.  It’s quiet there—no birds disturb the tall, brown reeds.  The sun shines off the water and I see the reflection of the trees above.  I can’t smell a thing, perhaps because I’m recovering from a cold.  The warm sun feels delightful on my face.

Being outdoors matters because it gives us a chance to reconnect with the essence of who we are.  We are part of nature and we are reminded of that.  An outdoor moment is a time to put everything else in the world aside and reflect, to turn inward.

Written 2/24/2016