Conversations With a River: A One Minute Meditation

I’m reading a book right now called Ida B…and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan. It is a children’s book that I wanted to share with my niece who lives in Colorado. I had no idea when I stared it that I would connect with it so much, or that it would make me laugh and feel things so deeply. I’ve discovered that while it may be written with kids in mind, it can be enjoyed by anyone of any age.

In this book the main character, Ida B, names the trees in “her” forest and goes there to escape her troubles. In the summer, she sometimes goes down to the brook and lies down in the water, letting the coolness roll over her. She talks about feeling the smoothness of the rocks and using it to ground her. She has conversations with the brook, and the individual trees along its banks and in the surrounding forest, saying, “There’s more than one way to tell each other things, and there’s more than one way to listen, too. And if you’ve never heard a tree telling you something, then I’d say you don’t really know how to listen just yet.” Isn’t this the truth?

I think there is so much to gain and learn from nature, whatever the nature may look like in your neck of the woods. For me, immersing myself in nature is restorative in a way unlike anything else. Just sitting in the forest, beside a brook, or next to a pond, or at the top of a mountain, and letting the peace wash over me is infinitely healing. Where do you go to heal your spirit and what do you do do renew your weary soul?

I recently spent some time in Pisgah National Forest, camping beside a meandering creek. After a magical night of watching fireflies, my husband, dog and I spent the day ambling along the river, with no goal to be anywhere soon. I loved the patterns on the smooth rocks in the shallow water and the way the green leaves reflected in the ripples. I loved hearing only moving water. I loved not thinking about current events or anything other than the moment I was in.

Here is a short video to take you there with me. I hope you make time for your own nature moment in the near future.