When going on a hike

I recently went on a hike in the Basque Country with my sister. Something we had planned months ago, so long we almost forgot about it. Then one day we said “Let’s go!”, and the next moment we were there, our breaths taken away by so much wilderness and beauty, amazed by so much peace, like a sacred silence. I could sense that people also walking with us felt exactly the same: small in front of such immensity, happy to get to finally see this place. It was almost a slow motion.

It’s hard to describe the way I felt. Somehow grateful that there are still some wild places around us even though I feel we have really taken over the whole planet. The place we went to isn’t really wild. It’s very touristic in fact. But it’s what surrounds it that remains untouched, and this is what brought me this weird feeling of joy, being home, calm and aware. These areas we aren’t able to reach, so steep, so slippery, so rocky or too high. Areas we can leave to this wilderness that has had to adapt to us for so long. These places where I feel sometimes I’d love to go and hide into, just for a little while, because it’d feel safer there than into the real world. What if that was the real world?

Stop. Listen. Close your eyes and feel
The cold breeze in the shadows of the gorge
The gentle water running down its course
The moth softly landing on your shoulder
The steps of older beings, finding all the energy they have to also get here.

Listen. Tune in to the gentle music this wilderness plays out each day.
Feel it resonate in your being, activating your sense of joy. Feel it while you align the rhythm of your steps to the ones of others, while you slow down until you become harmony with what surrounds you, what is right here, bigger than you, comforting you, moving you. Just listen.