Beautifully written, Tara! Thank you for sharing. I know intimately what you speak of. I spent five months in a tent myself, and much time alone in a very old bare cabin on and off for two years. You feel better, you feel right, you are you.
You remember back to when the last time you experienced this return to the wild, and wonder why it took you so long to realize that that was what you really needed, what you always needed.
At home I have to force myself to go out for 20 or 30 minutes to get some sun and air. In a healthy natural spot, away from areas with technology and electricity, all you want to be is outdoors, reverting to the animal you are. I totally understand your longing for winter, the outdoors, etc.
I used to know a man that would go into a nature area and just build himself a room or two, and just live there for a couple of seasons. He also built a room on a raft too, and he'd spend the summer there with his cat, just floating on the river behind the house he was renting at the time. He was an archaeologist, so he was very fond of nature to begin with. Every chance he'd get he'd be outside. One of my fondest memories of our time as friends was when he would take me to quiet old cemeteries that were being swallowed up by the woods. Again, you'd have to trespass on some rural property to find it.
Anyway, that you for sharing your thoughts on this gentle morning,
Thank you for sharing this with me, Melissa. I loved reading about your friend. I, too, love old cemeteries. I find them one of the most beautiful places to spend some time alone.
I spend most days outdoors, but it's not the same as being displaced, out in the wilds without anything pressing or looming nearby. I like being cut off from society and melded in with the real world. Sometimes I think I'm doomed to be a wild woman with leaves and seeds matted into her hair, talking to my pet owl as I eat squirrel over an open flame. We'll see, I suppose. :0)
😂😂 lol. In all seriousness though- please let me scamper off into the woods when my mind and body start to fail. I remember hearing stories of my great grandma, lost in the streets of Los Angeles. She would jump out of her window like a teenager until Alzheimers got the best of her.
These exact thoughts. I recently spent 5 days traveling solo on the Oregon coast staying in yurts. The last campground (Sunset Bay) didn’t have internet in the campsite. It was GLORIOUS! Just me, the yurt and the birds. I came home and immediately donated a trunks worth of stuff out of my house.
I have been listening to this song on repeat “Presence” by Andy Fischer-Price. My favorite lyrics: How empty can you be?
How much space can you hold?
How empty can you be
In your own presence?
I am challenging myself to see how empty can I be? Emptying my mind from thoughts via breathwork, energy from my body via exercise, food from my belly via fasting.
Beautiful, Sophia. It's so liberating to shed stuff - inside and out! How wonderful that you traveled solo along the coast. What a beautiful experience to have. ❤️
You magical, mystical woman! I love knowing how you’ve allowed yourself to be romanced by the mystery! I think this is what it means to be spirit having a human experience! Aaaah the dance... thank you for sharing.
Loved this, what a beautiful piece from a beautiful experience. I am determined to heal my family's seasonal allergies--I hate how badly they affect us this time of year and restrict our outdoor time. It is torture to sit inside because my poor son will end up with eyes swelled shut from whatever pollen is out there. I want us to build and live in a hobbit hole and be more outside than inside--but I have to get this allergy hell figured out! I'm going to bring us back to our true nature, or die sneezing from trying 😜
I've been giving my son lots of homeopathy remedies the last month, like histaminum and euphrasia and apis. My husband and I were born with allergies, so we have a lot of old dysfunction to clear and heal. I'm thinking eliminate grains for one, and do GAPS style diet. We need to seal our guts first, for sure.
Yes, that's a first step for sure. I don't know about using homeopathics in that way. I was thinking more about long term, constitutional type homeopathy not acute remedies. But yes, diet is a start for sure.
I am new to homeopathy, so I need to pick up a book or something about it and get an idea of what the heck to do. Right now I just have a bunch of Boiron products at my favorite grocery store, so I can pickup things and try them out.
Goodness, I can’t help but thank you Tara for every essay you write.
I’ve had so many similar thoughts to this. What a incredible experience it would be to spend days living in the woods with our ancestors.
Every time I have to walk through a store like Walmart (which is rare these days but I had to last month for a last minute item) it feels almost bizarre to me. I instantly feel like I’m in a fake world and the people around me my as well be aliens. I’m not sure how to really articulate it or put it into words. I instantly start thinking about how I would much rather be hunting wild game and gathering berries in the woods at that moment with my ancestors than walking through this strange place and seeing all these people filling their carts with fake toxic junk. Like it still boggles my mind how we’ve gotten so far from the REAL...?
This resonates, Grace. My husband and I went into a Walmart on our way to Virginia a few months ago to buy a phone charger. It was bewildering. The lighting, the energy, the chemical smells and the people. I felt like I was in a zoo watching the drugged people bumbling about. Honestly, I thought it was scary in there. There's so many people only half here. They're drugged by food and drink and EMFs and screens and they know something isn't quite right but they shut it up with booze or sugar or t.v. It's an absolute tragedy, the wasting of a life. It makes my heart hurt to think about it. All I can do is say a little prayer for them and keep using what I got to try and do something good ❤️
This was beautiful. Thank you, Tara. I was just thinking this morning on our walk how so much of our society's current discontent comes from this abundance of convenience. Our ancestors were just trying to stay alive. There was no room for petty or selfish thoughts. We have food delivered to our door, temperature controlled everything, communications at our fingertips. We don't have to figure out where our next meal is coming from, how to get warm or stay cool, how to reach someone with an important message. I think I read something along the lines where it clears up all this space in our brains and so our minds almost haven't caught up with all our physical conveniences and don't know what to do with this so often we wind up creating little crises that aren't at all, if that makes any sense. Our innate human desire to be useful, to use our bodies and our minds and our skills, didn't go away with all these 'advancements' and I think therein lies a disconnect, which your beautiful essay reminded me of. You seem to live so beautifully and purely with that lost knowledge. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I think this is wise and true and yet I still wonder. I mean, I feel like my days are filled up with working outside, working outdoors, developing my spirituality, reading and learning from wonderful minds, being nourished etc.. and yet I still feel like the more I connect to this world, the more false the cities and social norms and all those things you mentioned, become. There's something much deeper than mental space. It's a taste of a spiritual home, as close as we can get, on this physical plane. It's beyond filling time, it's expanding a soul in a way that I think we are kept away from with distractions and frivolity. Not that those aren't nice sometimes, too. :)
I've been burying myself in the pages of old novels- Klondike adventures and Yukon journeys made by pack mules, Jack Londons writing- To Build a Fire- have you read it?? And my oh my how this essay swept right into these musings.
Now that summer is here I find myself awkwardly declining this outing or that day out boating. Dare I say, "we have plans to sit under the Rowan to watch a Robin excavating worms for her young"? 😂 This being our fun. Nevermind the endless years we could spend on various tasks and chores fortifying our homestead. Maybe it's the mother in me, who desires so longingly for her 4 young boys, a life free of the heavy load as you articulated, free from the confines of modern convention.
I am with you, Tara. My heart aches the same as yours for that forgotten way. For the unforgiving wilderness that strips layers of pretense to authority. Just us and God.
I haven't read "To Build a Fire", but it's here on my bookshelf waiting for. I'm presently reading "The Pearl", but I will add this to my pile of "next book to read" beside my bed on your recommendation :)
'The Pearl' by Steinback? Ill have to put that in my stack! Our reading nights are longer now, thanks to the summer sun :) 'To Build a Fire' is a short story. Very short.
This is so close to my heart right now. Something I am also deeply reflecting on. Tara, have you read the "Ringing Cedars" series written by Vladimir Megre? I'm now on book 3 and it is bringing up a lot for me around how we live our lives and reconnecting to our true selves, eachother, the Universe, love and our "Motherland".
Oh Tara! ‘I ache for the Tara that would have never known the weight of the peddler’s stuff.’ Me too for myself, and I know you are not just referencing physical items but also all the other ideas that society puts upon us. Who we could be without them and the difficult work of stripping them away. Thank you for your musings - they resonate even if I will never sleep outside in winter.☺️
Oh Tara such a beautiful essay. Your writings are very visual and make me feel as if I actually had the experience you describe! All 4 seasons have their gifts and benefits but as I get older I yearn for a long fall and winter season that doesn’t end. Weird maybe… I recently told my husband a day dream that I’ve been having of following winter seasons across the globe. Meaning I should be packing up as our summer heats up, for Tasmania! Blessings to you for all you share with us 💙🌎
I don't think it's weird at all. I'm thinking about Northern, Northern Canada quite a bit. A little one room cabin with thousands of acres of crown land as my playground.. sigh...
Mm this got me immediately, thanks for it. "I spend hours every winter lying on frozen lakes and ponds, staring up at the clouds. It feels like a conspiracy, some magical spell I’m a part of. Water into ice. Where once I could only swim, now I can rest."
All the more making me want to exit the rat race for a long period of hibernation...away from the society drugged by ridiculous political controls that make choices for our bodies, chemicals and technology, bad lighting, boxed foods, everything. Everything that weighs us down.
We are doing the best we can, with what we have. Living vicariously through you.
Thank you, Tara... for the eloquent words that allow our minds to soak in every detail.
"Those cleansing flames heating our bodies and burning off the frayed threads in my mind."
Oof, this line is masterful.
Thank you, Whitney. ❤️
Beautifully written, Tara! Thank you for sharing. I know intimately what you speak of. I spent five months in a tent myself, and much time alone in a very old bare cabin on and off for two years. You feel better, you feel right, you are you.
You remember back to when the last time you experienced this return to the wild, and wonder why it took you so long to realize that that was what you really needed, what you always needed.
At home I have to force myself to go out for 20 or 30 minutes to get some sun and air. In a healthy natural spot, away from areas with technology and electricity, all you want to be is outdoors, reverting to the animal you are. I totally understand your longing for winter, the outdoors, etc.
I used to know a man that would go into a nature area and just build himself a room or two, and just live there for a couple of seasons. He also built a room on a raft too, and he'd spend the summer there with his cat, just floating on the river behind the house he was renting at the time. He was an archaeologist, so he was very fond of nature to begin with. Every chance he'd get he'd be outside. One of my fondest memories of our time as friends was when he would take me to quiet old cemeteries that were being swallowed up by the woods. Again, you'd have to trespass on some rural property to find it.
Anyway, that you for sharing your thoughts on this gentle morning,
Melissa
Thank you for sharing this with me, Melissa. I loved reading about your friend. I, too, love old cemeteries. I find them one of the most beautiful places to spend some time alone.
I spend most days outdoors, but it's not the same as being displaced, out in the wilds without anything pressing or looming nearby. I like being cut off from society and melded in with the real world. Sometimes I think I'm doomed to be a wild woman with leaves and seeds matted into her hair, talking to my pet owl as I eat squirrel over an open flame. We'll see, I suppose. :0)
😂😂 lol. In all seriousness though- please let me scamper off into the woods when my mind and body start to fail. I remember hearing stories of my great grandma, lost in the streets of Los Angeles. She would jump out of her window like a teenager until Alzheimers got the best of her.
These exact thoughts. I recently spent 5 days traveling solo on the Oregon coast staying in yurts. The last campground (Sunset Bay) didn’t have internet in the campsite. It was GLORIOUS! Just me, the yurt and the birds. I came home and immediately donated a trunks worth of stuff out of my house.
I have been listening to this song on repeat “Presence” by Andy Fischer-Price. My favorite lyrics: How empty can you be?
How much space can you hold?
How empty can you be
In your own presence?
I am challenging myself to see how empty can I be? Emptying my mind from thoughts via breathwork, energy from my body via exercise, food from my belly via fasting.
Beautiful, Sophia. It's so liberating to shed stuff - inside and out! How wonderful that you traveled solo along the coast. What a beautiful experience to have. ❤️
You magical, mystical woman! I love knowing how you’ve allowed yourself to be romanced by the mystery! I think this is what it means to be spirit having a human experience! Aaaah the dance... thank you for sharing.
Thank you ❤️
Loved this, what a beautiful piece from a beautiful experience. I am determined to heal my family's seasonal allergies--I hate how badly they affect us this time of year and restrict our outdoor time. It is torture to sit inside because my poor son will end up with eyes swelled shut from whatever pollen is out there. I want us to build and live in a hobbit hole and be more outside than inside--but I have to get this allergy hell figured out! I'm going to bring us back to our true nature, or die sneezing from trying 😜
Oh yes, you definitely need to fix that. Have you looked into homeopathy, Saucey? I've had some pretty profound healing from Heilkunst in particular.
I've been giving my son lots of homeopathy remedies the last month, like histaminum and euphrasia and apis. My husband and I were born with allergies, so we have a lot of old dysfunction to clear and heal. I'm thinking eliminate grains for one, and do GAPS style diet. We need to seal our guts first, for sure.
Yes, that's a first step for sure. I don't know about using homeopathics in that way. I was thinking more about long term, constitutional type homeopathy not acute remedies. But yes, diet is a start for sure.
I am new to homeopathy, so I need to pick up a book or something about it and get an idea of what the heck to do. Right now I just have a bunch of Boiron products at my favorite grocery store, so I can pickup things and try them out.
Goodness, I can’t help but thank you Tara for every essay you write.
I’ve had so many similar thoughts to this. What a incredible experience it would be to spend days living in the woods with our ancestors.
Every time I have to walk through a store like Walmart (which is rare these days but I had to last month for a last minute item) it feels almost bizarre to me. I instantly feel like I’m in a fake world and the people around me my as well be aliens. I’m not sure how to really articulate it or put it into words. I instantly start thinking about how I would much rather be hunting wild game and gathering berries in the woods at that moment with my ancestors than walking through this strange place and seeing all these people filling their carts with fake toxic junk. Like it still boggles my mind how we’ve gotten so far from the REAL...?
This resonates, Grace. My husband and I went into a Walmart on our way to Virginia a few months ago to buy a phone charger. It was bewildering. The lighting, the energy, the chemical smells and the people. I felt like I was in a zoo watching the drugged people bumbling about. Honestly, I thought it was scary in there. There's so many people only half here. They're drugged by food and drink and EMFs and screens and they know something isn't quite right but they shut it up with booze or sugar or t.v. It's an absolute tragedy, the wasting of a life. It makes my heart hurt to think about it. All I can do is say a little prayer for them and keep using what I got to try and do something good ❤️
I can’t wait for your book!
Thank you, Tara :)
This was beautiful. Thank you, Tara. I was just thinking this morning on our walk how so much of our society's current discontent comes from this abundance of convenience. Our ancestors were just trying to stay alive. There was no room for petty or selfish thoughts. We have food delivered to our door, temperature controlled everything, communications at our fingertips. We don't have to figure out where our next meal is coming from, how to get warm or stay cool, how to reach someone with an important message. I think I read something along the lines where it clears up all this space in our brains and so our minds almost haven't caught up with all our physical conveniences and don't know what to do with this so often we wind up creating little crises that aren't at all, if that makes any sense. Our innate human desire to be useful, to use our bodies and our minds and our skills, didn't go away with all these 'advancements' and I think therein lies a disconnect, which your beautiful essay reminded me of. You seem to live so beautifully and purely with that lost knowledge. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I think this is wise and true and yet I still wonder. I mean, I feel like my days are filled up with working outside, working outdoors, developing my spirituality, reading and learning from wonderful minds, being nourished etc.. and yet I still feel like the more I connect to this world, the more false the cities and social norms and all those things you mentioned, become. There's something much deeper than mental space. It's a taste of a spiritual home, as close as we can get, on this physical plane. It's beyond filling time, it's expanding a soul in a way that I think we are kept away from with distractions and frivolity. Not that those aren't nice sometimes, too. :)
So many little crises these days. First world problems 🙃
I've been burying myself in the pages of old novels- Klondike adventures and Yukon journeys made by pack mules, Jack Londons writing- To Build a Fire- have you read it?? And my oh my how this essay swept right into these musings.
Now that summer is here I find myself awkwardly declining this outing or that day out boating. Dare I say, "we have plans to sit under the Rowan to watch a Robin excavating worms for her young"? 😂 This being our fun. Nevermind the endless years we could spend on various tasks and chores fortifying our homestead. Maybe it's the mother in me, who desires so longingly for her 4 young boys, a life free of the heavy load as you articulated, free from the confines of modern convention.
I am with you, Tara. My heart aches the same as yours for that forgotten way. For the unforgiving wilderness that strips layers of pretense to authority. Just us and God.
I haven't read "To Build a Fire", but it's here on my bookshelf waiting for. I'm presently reading "The Pearl", but I will add this to my pile of "next book to read" beside my bed on your recommendation :)
Your kind of fun sounds like my kind of fun 🥰
'The Pearl' by Steinback? Ill have to put that in my stack! Our reading nights are longer now, thanks to the summer sun :) 'To Build a Fire' is a short story. Very short.
This is so close to my heart right now. Something I am also deeply reflecting on. Tara, have you read the "Ringing Cedars" series written by Vladimir Megre? I'm now on book 3 and it is bringing up a lot for me around how we live our lives and reconnecting to our true selves, eachother, the Universe, love and our "Motherland".
Thank you, Stephanie. No, I haven't, but it sounds intriguing. I will check it out. Thank you for the recommendation.
Oh Tara! ‘I ache for the Tara that would have never known the weight of the peddler’s stuff.’ Me too for myself, and I know you are not just referencing physical items but also all the other ideas that society puts upon us. Who we could be without them and the difficult work of stripping them away. Thank you for your musings - they resonate even if I will never sleep outside in winter.☺️
Maybe that's the point of adulthood - stripping away the clanging wares that were strapped to us, but for which we have no need. No cold required :)
Oh Tara such a beautiful essay. Your writings are very visual and make me feel as if I actually had the experience you describe! All 4 seasons have their gifts and benefits but as I get older I yearn for a long fall and winter season that doesn’t end. Weird maybe… I recently told my husband a day dream that I’ve been having of following winter seasons across the globe. Meaning I should be packing up as our summer heats up, for Tasmania! Blessings to you for all you share with us 💙🌎
I don't think it's weird at all. I'm thinking about Northern, Northern Canada quite a bit. A little one room cabin with thousands of acres of crown land as my playground.. sigh...
Oh boy, Tara. This one brought me to tears. I have shared many of these thoughts. What a gift, the silent moments of just being with God.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Liz. 💕
Mm this got me immediately, thanks for it. "I spend hours every winter lying on frozen lakes and ponds, staring up at the clouds. It feels like a conspiracy, some magical spell I’m a part of. Water into ice. Where once I could only swim, now I can rest."
Thank you for sharing that with me, Liz. I'm honoured that sharing that part, something that's so precious to me, meant something to you. ❤️
Powerful and profound, Tara.
All the more making me want to exit the rat race for a long period of hibernation...away from the society drugged by ridiculous political controls that make choices for our bodies, chemicals and technology, bad lighting, boxed foods, everything. Everything that weighs us down.
We are doing the best we can, with what we have. Living vicariously through you.
Thank you, Tara... for the eloquent words that allow our minds to soak in every detail.