There is value in the dark, the light and all the gradients in between. I wonder what it would be like to truly embracing the full spectrum. Honoring when we might be walking in the dark - aimless in terms of direction, unsure of how far you're going, where you are heading - feeling into each step as it happens, perhaps singularly focused on staying on the path to avoid stumbling - guessing what is in the darkness around you, taking on the obstacles as they arise. Honoring that the light provides us with the opportunity to move more freely, take a wider view with all that is visible - welcoming the light, examining the details, textures and constant aliveness around us. Stretching and using our senses to reach into the darkness and stay present in the light. If you tend to turn towards one and away from the other, I wonder what you might notice if you just lean in instead.

There are rhythms of light and dark present around us each and every day as the earth orbits and the sun and moon dance in the sky. We also carry our own rhythm as we inhale and exhale. It is (unfortunately) common for people to see themselves as separate from nature but we are living, breathing animals that are part of it. With the actual act of breathing, we take oxygen into our cells to sustain our life force and we exhale what we don't need that then feeds the trees and plants around us. As complex animals, we can think our way back into the past or into the future but you can only breathe in the present. Feel your body move with each breath and honor that something that happens so automatically is so essential to life itself.

Taking this even deeper we can expand the sense that in-breath we bring in what we need and out-breath we give to others. Joan Halifax offers the reminder that too often we feel like we have to exhale all the time but that the inhale is absolutely essential - and then you can exhale. The winter season is a natural time to focus on the inhale, turn inward, rest, offer ourselves the space for what we need, strengthen our reserve.... knowing that come the spring we will be at the ready - willing, and able to exhale back out into the world.

Reflections are simply beautiful, just as they are and in their own right. Brilliant in shadows, details and the images as they morph. I continue to be drawn to water and its reflections - as the light plays on the surface, as the current moves it, as the breeze stirs the surface, as it ripples from some unseen action under the surface, as it appears as still as a piece of glass.

If you are willing to pause the stories, the labels, and just be, you might find that all beings and experiences in nature can also offer us a kind of mirror - a reflection of something about ourselves, something we may not be able to see in our thoughts, actions or being, or something that serves our journey. It's all there, the only question is whether we are willing to be open to receive the wisdom.

I am not offering any walks in December as I pause my guiding and give myself (a little) room to rest before the start of the new year.

But there are some exciting seeds that will bloom in 2022...! Like the next guide training I am assisting with, the guide immersion I am co-leading, my first public weekend retreat offering at Well Being Retreat Center, the first trail that I am working to certify in TN as a self-guided forest therapy experience, and my gig as the trail certification program coordinator.

Keep an eye out for more on all of this, a website update and the many in-person and virtual walks opportunities that the year ahead will bring.