Sometimes when I am in bed, I can hear a thousand little voices talking about all sorts of different ideas, conversations, and/or topics.  It’s just the noise of the day’s ideas “downloading” as I call it.  If this goes on for a while and I am restless, there seems to be a certain point where one voice shouts over the rest, “Hey!”  And in that instant, an eerie calm descends over my mind, and I usually fall to sleep.

The same could be said for walking in the forest.  You first step in and walk a few paces over noticeably softer earth.  The ground, with all its decaying matter, softens each footstep that you produce. 

You look around and everything is glimmering with moisture and dew.  Downed trees jut out around corners and, acorns litter the forest floor from all the wind howling through the tree tops.  The whole place is alive, and it calms even the busiest mind. You look at that trail and wonder where it goes.  Think to yourself, “Why don’t I just walk a little bit and see where it takes me?”

I decided to take a walk in the woods to clear my head from all the stuff I have been attending to these last few days.  It feels good to be so busy, but a little quiet time will do a mind some good.  So I jumped in the car and headed up 1500 feet to the nearest ridge line.  It’s amazing that I can leave the valley floor with its sun and traffic and noise, and in no time at all be surrounded by trees that move and sway to the pulses of wind.  To hear the stuff that is air move through the trees, and breathe in that deep forested musty earthy smell revitalizes my soul and energy.

The next time you find yourself so busy that you don’t have time for this or that – take the time.  Walk away from whatever you are doing.  Put down the legal pad, the laptop, the cellphone or Blackberry iPhone; go somewhere quiet.  And I guarantee that you will be more productive when you return.

-Todd