Practice the Ritual of Wonder Walking

We all need to perfect our innate ability to walk in wonder.

Hello Dear Ones,

This is a gardening blog and I promise to make a concerted effort to stay on target. But I would first like to caution that bloggers tend to wander wonderfully, just like the very best garden paths. One thing leads to another and then another, and you're off on your merry way of bliss-filled wandering and pondering.

There are places, such as upstate New York, which are currently steeped in the time of the parenthesis, a point in time that falls somewhere between the birth of spring and the death of winter, not yet the one and no longer the other. This can be a difficult time of transition with everyone aching, like long lost lovers, for the sun god Apollo to once again cast his dappled golden rays upon the land.

In the midst of this sadness/joy of longing, moments come and go, days pass and light continues to strenghten and increase. Maybe our praise songs are luring the sun-king out of his winter retreat, and back to the brown, tan and rust grey fields that will soon become lush with green. The light is a blessing, waking the reluctant earth from its sleep, illuminating the crusty bare bark of hedge and tree, coaxing the already present songbirds to break into lilts of delight.

Still too wet and muddy to get into the gardens, this in-between time is a perfect time to engage in wonder walking. Such a soul-filled activity will give us a viably important reason to step out into the fresh and refreshing air, freeing us from our hidden, secret lives of gardening book scanning and virtual planning. Walking quietly in the wild damp wood, or even along the more plant-cultivated city streets we can re-sing our senses back to life and fill them with the joy-sparks of nature. The direction and pace of our wonder walking will vary depending on what catches our eye or whispers in our ear, on the breeze that plays tag with our hair, and the swelling branch bud that calls out to be noticed and caressed into life.

On these deep listening walks it is best to go slowly, leisurely scanning for the many-spirited voices of nature. Like nature writer Annie Dillard says, we should retreat not inside ourselves, but outside ourselves, so that we become a tissue of senses, primed for delight. Whatever we see becomes plenty, abundance, a gift of grace and beauty.

In these difficult times, often filled with war and struggle and despair, what a gift of joy we can offer to the world when we take a half hour or so out of our busy hectic lives to walk in wonder and celebrate the beauty of the waking earth.

"By means of all created things, without exception, the Divine assails us, permeates us, and moulds us. We imagine it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers." Teilhard de Chardin.

Should the day be overcast and rain brusied, with no opportunity to venture out into the wilds under the blue blushed sky, why not take a stroll through some wonder filled virtual gardens. Check out Soul of the Garden. I'm sure you'll be glad you did. The pictures, alone, are enough to send you off into peals of ecstasy.

Until we meet again, I bid you Wondrous Wandering.

Athena Workerwoman,
Patron of Bliss Filled Nature Strolls