A Day with Nature!

The more we get lost in nature the more we discover ourselves. Bereft of the artificiality of technologies, nature always rejuvenates us in abundance. Anytime you wish to connect with your inner self, spend some time in the woods or mountains, by the seashore or waterfalls. Explore nature right in your backyard too. You will be amazed by a feeling that is so refreshing. Some may think it is a waste of time but it has all the remedies for your mental maladies. Nature plays music if you are ready to listen.

My husband and I love to walk, be it by the seashore or be it a trail in the mountains. Though long walks and hikes are tiring, the experience is always rewarding. We are together yet we get time to connect with our own racing thoughts. As one has no choice other than to focus on each step, one spends more time with one’s own thoughts. This lone time in nature definitely helps to connect the dots and make sense out of it.

We woke up lazy after two consecutive days of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations with friends. Meeting friends is always fun but also transmits their thoughts and energies to you. As if you are in a spell for some time and you can’t help pondering about them. It’s like once you eat food it takes a certain number of hours for the body to digest and then keeps what it needs and releases the rest. Similar logic I guess when you meet old and new friends. Whatever conversations or observations are anchored in our conscious mind are exchanged with retrieved data stored in our subconscious mind. Some resulting thoughts will be pleasing, some may not be. One has no control over these thoughts. They are bound to happen until the brain gets exhausted and ready to store what to cherish and what to let go. Some thoughts will go to the depth of the subconscious into perennial slumber. This is how our brain processes. So one can just sit quietly and observe. If one is not aware of this process it is not easy to handle those emotions. The exploding clash of emotions is no less than a war of Mahabharat where you are in a perpetual dilemma of 'to be or not to be' like the one faced by Arjun. I am aware of this process and so also aware of my inability to stop the process. We both knew nature would heal our minds and soul in its uncanny way. It was a perfect day to be with nature and so that day we decided to hike the mountain #Watatic and #Nutting Hill from #Ashburnham, MA.

Standing 1,832 feet tall in the #Wapack Mountain Range, Ashburnham's Mount Watatic was once a ski area but is now protected land used for hiking, trail running, and bird watching. I am sure, for any serious hikers in the northeast region of America, there are plenty of options, especially in White Mountain trails. But if you live in Massachusetts and you only have a day to spare, Mount Watatic has all the features one expects from climbing a mountain. We took a trail roughly close to 3.0 miles of rocky paths, muddy patches, forests, a boulder, and a false summit preceding Watatic's true peak. There are two bald summits that look out onto the verdant rolling hills of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It was a bit hazy that day, but on a clear day, one can see Mt. Wachusett and Mt. Monadnock in the distance.

We then decided on a spur of the moment to drive towards the mountain. Didn’t really think and plan like most of our other vacations or trips. It is not the right thing to do especially if you are going for a hike. It was an hour drive from home. I was so preoccupied with thoughts and chats with both my out-of-town girls that it didn’t strike me to ask my husband anything about the hike. It seemed a bit chilly when we left, so we wore normal clothes without thinking for a moment that one can sweat from a hike. We realized only ten minutes through the woods that we should have worn sweat-free lightweight outfits appropriate for exercise. A backpack with a water bottle and some snacks would have been very helpful because the nearby Ashburnham town didn’t seem very touristy. Anyway, there was no looking back. The weather was gorgeous. Though tall trees were blocking the flow, a soft cool breeze still made its way to soothe us during our hiking. From far away when we see a mountain forest it looks dense, but if you walk on the trail your perspective changes.

Under the tall trees, there were plenty of shaded open spaces and low-lying ground covers looked pretty, especially the lush green tender-looking ferns. I spotted a few varieties of light purple daisies. I believe when it is the season, wild blueberries grow on this path in abundance.

The trail was moderate to difficult for us with rocky paths and many many muddy patches. There was even an area that one had to cross on narrow wooden planks on top of burbling water. There were chances of slipping on the wet slippery rocks. So we both picked up dead tree limbs to use as walking sticks for support. As we got more into the woods man-made noises from human habitation started to fade away into the background. Paying attention to our senses, we listened to the music that nature was playing for us and kept the pace with our walk, like birds chirping and gentle shushing noises from leaves swaying with the gentle breeze. When you walk you create your own music as you hop and skip the rocks. Apart from the rocks on the paths, overgrown tree roots spread prominently like claws on the ground.

These trees must be hundreds of years old. Their claw-shaped roots were actually very helpful for anchoring our steps to get a good grip while the rocks were a little slippery. It looks like if nature gives us a problem there is a solution too. One has to be attentive. We saw many old dead trees completely uprooted and lying on the ground. It’s a way of nature telling us that any living creature has to perish one day.

Slowly the elevation was getting difficult and we were finding it hard to breathe. Every now and then we paused to fill our lungs with air. On our way up whenever we saw someone returning we kept asking ‘How far are we from the summit ?’ Each one said the distance with an estimated time left. Few youngsters returned halfway, they probably didn’t have the patience to reach the summit. But many elderlies who made it to the peak always sounded encouraging. They found the hike not very difficult and we should be able to make it. They kept saying the breeze and the view at the summit is breathtaking and worth all the pain.

Huffing and puffing it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to reach the summit. There were two bald boulder peaks. One is called False Summit. Maybe because when you reach there you almost feel that is it. But you need to go down a little further to climb up again to the true peak. Sure enough, the breeze was so refreshingly cool and the 360-degree view was breathtaking. We sat there for a few minutes catching our breath and trying to meditate. Then we started to descend, and it took us an hour perhaps because gravity helped us walk faster.

The hiking experience I compared to the journey of our lives. During our early years of life, we take risks easily without thinking about the consequences. When we reach the peak of our life our journeys are full of uncertainties, frustrations, worries, and anxieties. We easily get carried away by emotions due to immaturity and lack of clarity. The first half of our life also feels heavy with lots of burdens due to physical, social and emotional responsibilities. Impulsive reactions to situations many times bring unhappiness. Even if it brings happiness, it is short-lived. We often do not have enough patience during these years. We reach the peak of our life gaining maturity and clarity with meaningful experiences gathered along the way. Then starts our downhill journey. Though gravity will pull us down faster, we know what to expect on the way. At the summit we pause, enjoy, eat and drink to recharge our bodies and to do that we empty our backpacks to keep ourselves lightweight while descending. In life too, once we reflect, introspect, and get clarity with logical reasoning we start leaving behind the burden of bad habits, sorrows, overthinking of what can’t be changed, and ill feelings towards others. We learn to let go and forgive more. We develop more patience.

Let us compare the hiking experience with the experience of running any business. An idea of business starts with uninformed optimism. An entrepreneur often takes it for granted and takes risks impulsively just like one underestimates the difficulties of an uphill hike. He or she reaches very soon at informed pessimism when hears how far or how hard the roadmap is to reach the ultimate goal of the business idea. As he or she gathers more information in the process realizes that there may or may not be an easy path to reach the goal. If he/she survives that path with little courage, he/she reaches the peak. Reaching the peak represents the clarity in the process ahead for achieving the desired goal. Now going downhill is an informed optimism state where he/she knows what to expect on the way and how to act and react. The entrepreneur learns how to think fast and think slow at the same time.

Throughout this hike, I was trying to reflect even from a spiritual point of view. In India, most mountain peaks have temples, serving as pilgrim destinations for spiritual seekers. With my traveling experiences, I had seen similar practices in different faiths and in different countries too. The moment we picked the dead tree limbs as walking sticks, it seemed to me that we are like wandering monks walking through unruly, unpaved, wooded paths where each step we take towards a goal that is unknown. It made me wonder what those monks might be thinking. Why do monks prefer to hike mountains to practice austerity? What do they gain at the summit? The answer I get in my heart is simple. It probably makes one ultra-focused. Not to slip on the way, he/she takes each step carefully. It also means to reach a distant goal one has to be ultra-focused on the very next step. There is no doubt one feels the ultimate energy at the summit and serves as a perfect venue for meditation. By the time one reaches the peak will certainly shade many negative thoughts which ultimately will help to open the door connecting with the inner self. Advait Vedanta philosophy believes in the mantra ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ which means ‘I am the God’. So unlocking that door and connecting with oneself must be the ultimate goal of this journey.

September 12th, 2021

@Manorama Choudhury

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