I keep returning to the great outdoors. I keep enjoying the wind on my face, the sun on my shoulders, and the fog sprinkling its most upon my back. I thank the stars above for my abilities to inhale and exhale the breath and the beauty. I thank God and the Angels of yesteryear for guiding me on my path in the woods and on the mountain. Even when I'm lost I thank the Universe because the great outdoors makes me a kinder human.
If I am in a bad mood from stress or unnecessary worry, the family yells for me to go workout or hike and come back later. They know my angst and my anxiety releases when I am physical and honoring my physical abilities. When I challenge myself on the mountain, my mind and body become one. My mind is released because I am so focused on the challenge at hand. I have a vacation for my head! Now that's what I call meditation. I don't sit and try to think of nothing. I do something so hard that I cannot think of anything else at the moment. That is the sort of nirvana I experience.
I didnt hike hike regularly until age 46 and a half. I was so focused on accomplishing something with my workouts that the pure enjoyment of the great outdoors used to seem like a waste of a workout to me. I needed to sweat profusely, to be yelled at by an aerobics or spin instructor, to be bossed around by a trainer. No pain, no gain is a motto many of us ascribed to in the 1980s and 1990s. Thank goodness I lasted on earth long enough to grow through that phase and actually crave the great outdoors for its beauty and being. The great outdoors has no agenda. It just is. When I finally got to the point of wanting to be outside to just be, the exercise part was
icing on the cake.
So when I'm finished with a workout in the great outdoors, I have a small smile on my face for the rest of the day. I'm not cussing out folks on the freeway on my way to work in the afternoon. I respond in a gentler way to my children when they ask me the same questions for the umpteenth time. I take abuse or criticism at work from customers and certain coworkers in a nonreactive way. Yes, I am a nicer human being because of my time spent consciously and mindfully in the great outdoors. Please check out my video series named The Grest Outdoors on YouTube. My channel is titled SuperiorSelf.
What do you do in the great outdoors? How does the time spent out in nature affect the rest of your life? I want to hear from you! Please send me your answers on the contact form on my website.
Blessings,
KJ Landis
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