Unplug? Plug In.

By Jeanne

I have a great park nearby my house. It has a 4-mile trail around the perimeter and a number of trails that crisscross the inside. There are lots of steep hills, so you can get a good workout while you commune with nature.

I was walking on my favorite interior trail recently, my Mozart playlist playing softly through my earbuds, and thinking about balance. Walking through Queeny Park is one of the ways I find balance in my hectic life.

I got to a point in the trail where I was totally alone, except for a small herd of deer grazing along the path. These deer were totally unafraid, they looked at me with curiosity not fear. Clearly humans were commonplace, not a threat.

I went to the park with the idea of unplugging. Letting go of everything that crowds my mind during the week, letting go of all the things that whir through my head. Finding quiet. Finding solitude.

At that moment along the trail, I realized is that I wasn’t unplugging. I was plugging in. I made a connection to something outside of myself. I felt the earth beneath me, I felt the energy that flows through the universe, the soul of the world. The deer and I shared that energy.

I stopped. I tuned into that energy. I simply existed in that moment. It was momentous, that recognition of connection. I felt calmed, peaceful, reinvigorated. I was truly plugged in.

That day changed my outlook. I feel the connection still, whenever I breathe with intention, whenever I sit in stillness. Awareness of the universe. That trail has become one of my happy places. In the woods where the deer stand peacefully nearby.

I wish that for you.