Coming down symptons
Many of my normal thoughts disappeared in the forest last week. Instead, my senses switched on full alert, perhaps for the first time in ages.
In the forest – very basic needs had to be satisfied and they were all that mattered to me at the time; staying warm and dry, cooking food to eat when hungry and drinking when thirsty, emptying bladder and bowels and taking care of personal hygiene, meaning staying clean and alert.
All of the above took a lot of work and planning and it required much of my energy throughout the day. However, achieving each was hugely satisfying and rewarding. It had me working in a meditative state with no room for much thinking, apart from what was needed in the present. And it brought on so much content afterwards.
When time off, I could rest or sleep and I really appreciated it. When hot, I could enjoy the wind to cool me down. I could listen to the birds calling each other in the morning and see the landscape transform from day to night. I could breathe in the moist air at sunset and enjoy the silence when the forest became dark. It was all so peaceful before going to bed. And it felt amazing on the inside too, as it made me peaceful, calm and alive. Life became simple.
In modern society we are complicating our lives. We are distracted, constantly –not just by city noises, words and signs, phones, email, TV and Internet but even by our own thinking. We’re planning our lives in a calendar and squeezing in so many things to do – believing we’re productive but actually feeling we’re running out of time. In fact, we only ever really seem to take the time to be, observe and enjoy life, during our longer breaks or holidays. Meanwhile we drink our senses numb to celebrate our ‘time-off’ from the crazy world we have created in our day-to-day lives. We no longer realize what really matters in our lives, or how to make ourselves happy in the long run. Or?
The truth is, we no longer have to fight to satisfy our basic survival needs and we may not even be aware of what these needs are any more. In modern society, we are trying to satisfy newly invented needs instead. These are excess needs we and are all helping to sustain. Or shall we blame it on brands, magazines, adverts or the government?
Chasing so many peripheral goals in order to live up to the perfect picture in our heads, which doesn’t actually exist, has perhaps tricked the entire world out of its true nature consisting of love, peace and happiness. We are simply lost and disconnected from our true selves. The more we try to satisfy the needs we are inventing and believe are important to us, the more trapped we become - all to be approved of and seen as successful in today's society.
And isn’t it funny how we keep on travelling to far away destinations to see, relax and enjoy life, but we fail to enjoy the life and the people that is always in front of us. Just like we have forgotten our basic needs, we keep forgetting who and what really matters in our lives. Try going into the forest for a week and you'll know what I mean...
