It takes time to get used to the short days, gray air and biting wind. I don’t know about you, but all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a hot cup of tea, a good book or movie. However, I know what fills my soul – getting outside and soaking it all in, whatever ‘all’ that happens to be. Today it was a misty rain and 35 degrees F. I love the muted colors that blend across the landscape. The green-grays, browns and pale yellows. There’s something about these colors washed over with a thick sable haired paintbrush that brings a sense of calm. Even the heavy gray clouds hanging low, resting in my head can’t seem to bring my spirit down. I can see the remainders of fall blending into the background, leaves trapped in ice, a branch resting on the ground, lichen clinging to tree bark.

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I rarely see other people out on days like these. It’s as if the imagined lack of depth in the space around our bodies causes atrophy. However, if you can take the step and move yourself outdoors you will find the stillness that opens the senses to discovery. Finding surprises in the smallest corner of a piece of ice or in between two deep treads of bark. These moments ripple through the brain igniting thoughts that are buried so deeply inside our minds that can only be released through metacognition. The mind does not need stillness, but it does need quiet space to expand, breath if you will.