I don’t recall what age I was when I read Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden: Or, Life in the Woods.” But apparently it struck a cord within me that still resounds when I have a quiet moment to ponder life, happiness and peace.
“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature,” wrote Thoreau.
What a phrase. “Tonic of wildness.”
And how true that need is. We can never have enough of nature. It’s where we unwind. Where we relax. Where we let be. Where we see God. There is something about being surrounded by the mysterious, unsurveyed and unfathomable — those things so much bigger than us — that is important to a peaceful life.
As
TheMidnightCafe put it in her most recent blogpost: Surrender. Rest. Surrender. Relief. Surrender. Peace.
I need to regularly take my “tonic of wildness.” I need to sit outside on my deck and admire the ageless Burr Oak in my backyard. Oh, the number of birds it shelters. And bugs. And squirrels.
I seek out the wild in the city. This year, Minnehaha Creek has shown it can’t be contained and it has spilled over its banks, flooding paths, roads and fields. It has blocked traffic on Cedar. Travel along with it and you’ll be amazed by the roar of Minnehaha Falls right before it rushes into the Mighty Mississippi.
I look for the wild nearby, and I’ve found it in places I don’t expect.
Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield is nestled up next to I35W, but you don’t realize that when you’re admiring the coyotes on the frozen marsh.
North Mississippi Regional Park sits between I94 and the river, an unassuming place teaming with wildlife.
Eloise Butler Wildlife Area hugs I394, but the noise of birds fills the air and you can see wild turkeys if you keep your eyes open.
And the place where I am closest to peace, the one spot on earth where I simply breath it in, that’s Voyageur’s National Park in Northern Minnesota. Camping and boating there recharge something within me that I don’t necessarily know was so empty. But the world is big there. It’s mysterious. It’s mostly untouched by human hands. You notice the wind. The sky. The rocks. The water. It’s basic and simple, but yet so amazingly complex. Sit in the sun on a rock near the water. And breath. In that place, I find peace.
This week’s topic dovetails with last week’s post on happiness. Peace and joy are linked together in my mind, and often, what gives me joy also brings me peace. And I find both joy and peace by living deliberately. By paying attention.
Here's another gem from Thoreau:
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth."
