I am hawk

We don’t have to go far to travel.

Traveling is about getting outside of your regular routine, your daily “grind” and removing yourself from your “normal” life so that we can SEE our life better from the perspective of a bird's eye view.

Recently I went camping at a lake just about an hour out of Kamloops.

We didn’t have to go far.

We didn’t have to take much.

It didn’t cost us more than gas and food.

We slept in my lovely, cozy, trusty van.

What was found there?

Peace, yes.

Solitude, yes.

Connection, check.

A profound sense of belonging and oneness, you betcha.

Nature is a great healer.

We forget this sometimes as we sit comfortably in our square houses with our piped in water and flick a switch electricity.

What have we given up in exchange for convenience and comfort?

Why, when I sleep “off the grid”, do I feel less aches and pains, get stronger, have better concentration?

Inflammation literally is held at bay as I put my feet back on the earth and breathe fresh air.

Balance is restored.

What are we giving up when we live in cities with a 24 hour store down the block and doors we have to lock at night for fear that someone might come in and harm us or steal from us.

The hawk circles overhead, eyeing you.

You float and bob on the lake ripples.

Everything else is still.

Then coyotes pipe up.

It’s the middle of the day but they have something loud to say.

The sound finds my soul and communicates to my wildness.

I am coyote, I am water, I am hawk, I am sky.

I had forgotten.

I had forgotten.

I had forgotten.

Back in who I am, I return to the shore and I sleep, a deep sleep of re-unification.

Returning to civilization I keep those strong messages in my bones, sealed into my skin.

Not to be forgotten again.

But if I do, I know where I will go.