Take Your Time

“Nothing can be done well at a speed of forty miles a day…” John Muir

In planning stages for walking the Camino, we were following the guidebook most everyone used called “A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago” by John Brierley. It had you walking at about 15 miles/day for about 5 weeks with a few days of rest. We decided to try and follow the guidebooks recommendation. Terri and I did finish the walk but we had to walk quite a bit slower and in places had to take some transportation to catch up to our schedule we had planned. In hindsight, I think we would have targeted a slower pace and only walked about 10 miles a day.

As I have aged, my pace and distance I can walk have been reduced, I am finding the joy of walking slowly and purposefully with the eyes of my heart open to all I see. I believe that is exactly what John Muir means by the quote at the top of this blog.

When I was in my 20’s, I climbed a number of the major peaks here in Washington State and I had the following John Muir quote on my desk at work:

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flowers into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

This quote has always been with me and to this day I find it one of my all time favorites. To really experience nature’s goodness and beauty and peace, one has to slow down and take your time. This was true on the Camino, the more pressed we were to make the mileage of the day, the more we likely missed out on the beauty right around us. It seems to get the “good tidings” of nature we have to slow down for “nothing is done well” when we are rushing to get somewhere.

We all need to take our time when it comes to our time in nature. I can definitely tell you it is worth it!

May Nature’s Peace be with you,

John

Photograph of the Month

Huckleberry Speak

Oh, how I love the Huckleberry. It gives us delicious fruit to eat and it is lovely to look at as well with its contrasting colors of fall. I captured this during a hike to the Ice Caves this summer. I was walking real slow and taking it all in every step of the way. (By the way the bridge is still out over the Stillaquamish River to the Ice Caves. We waited till late summer when the water level was at its lowest to ford the river.)