I only hike solo—but never alone. I have many treasured guests who come along with me. God. Music. Poetry. Animals. The breeze, the fog and the sunlight through the trees. I touch bark and whisper to the trees; sometimes they touch me and whisper back. I invite anger, grief, relief, joy, peace, pride, doubt—all the emotions and all the questions. None are off limits in my sacred church without walls.
Allison, you joined me yesterday as I traveled to the forest “for-rest.” And I was so grateful for your invitation to see all the permission sticks around us. I love your words and you-ness and the gift of your “perspectables.” This essay was gorgeous. A true gift. 🙏🏻🍃
Awwww Jennifer! Your comment made me a bit leaky! Which I love. Tears of resonance are my favorite kind. Thank you for bringing me with you to the forest. Thank you for being a fellow traveler who notices these things. The sacred church with no walls has so much to show us.
I love this SO much! Walking is my #1 tool to help regulate my emotions & to help me stay sober. I'm celebrating 700 days today🎉💕 You inspired me to find permission sticks🍂 I took a few photos, but I don't see a way to share them in this comment section. Thanks for sharing this beautiful writing❤️
I couldn’t figure out how to specifically tag you - there are a LOT of Crystal C readers here! 😅 but come find me in Notes and drop your photo. I’d love to see your ☮️stick 🫶
It makes me so happy to hear that you are finding your own permission sticks. Sobriety has gifted me with permission to find peace daily in the woods. Daily walks are critical to self-care, too. I’m untethered without them. I get it!
I wish we could attach photos to the comment section but not an option here on the Stack. Maybe I’ll post something on Notes and tag you as a mention. I’d love to see your permission stick!
Thank you for this Allison. I have a long relationship with trees, written about them and enjoyed them on long walks. They, and nature in general, are an inspiration. Some of my best ideas and peaceful thoughts came during long walks in the woods. I love how you have translated this into permission. BTW, I am Tawny's Aunt. Good luck to you!!!
Hi Tia! My best ideas are “downloaded” in the woods - I so get what you mean. Thanks for reading and sharing here. It’s been great getting to know you in Tawny’s class!
Love the idea of yes (and then permission) sticks! What a great reminder! As for entering the world, every day I do so by waking up my body, either with yoga or a morning run (which i do a pre-run stretch for) and then post run i do my yoga. That's been my daily routine for almost 9 years now (the yoga anyway, I just started running again last year after a long break)
Yoga has been a game changer for me, too. Morning time on the mat totally shifts me and grounds me. I gave up running last year but part of me wonders if I should try to lace up again. Honestly, I'm enjoying my slow meandering pace in the wooded trails so much I don't feel called to push my pace.
So beautiful, Allison. Thank you for sharing your practice with us. I especially love the parts where you allow your problems and responsibilities to wait on the sidelines until you take care of yourself first. This is something I'm also getting better at, but that part could always use some extra attention.
Thanks, Kaitlyn. I'm working on this, too! Some days my problems patiently wait and some days they insist on interrupting. I guess it's the return, day after day, that makes the real difference.
“This practice isn’t running from my problems. It is telling them, hold on. I know you are there, and this is how I will acknowledge you right now. By pressing pause. Not delete. Not escape.”
Allison I just love this sentence. You’re not shirking your responsibilities—you’re attending to the most important one first—yourself.
This is so beautiful Allison, and I felt calmed just reading it. I have tried many times to have a calm morning routine and enter my day calmly. When I was quitting alcohol, this was necessary - and possible. Since having a child (who is still only 3 years old) it mostly feels impossible. My day usually starts with him jumping into bed with me. Which is wonderful but also, I'm immediately into getting him ready for nursery and getting myself ready for the day. But I know that once he's at nursery and I have that beautiful pause, I could spend more time moving slowly... and sometimes I do; I go sit by the river and peacefully have my coffee. But then as soon as I sit down at my laptop, at my desk which has tons of notes and to do lists all over it, that sense of urgency kicks in and I'm rushing and trying to do 10 things at once. And once it's time to leave to pick up my son after lunch, I'm frantic and stressed.
This line really hit me: 'How we do anything is probably how we do everything.'
Shit.
Lots for me to contemplate and no doubt forget again! Thank you for sharing and for this reminder to me.x
I truly think that the power of pausing/sliding down is powerful no matter when you incorporate it. And it’s going to change depending on the season you’re in, right?
You’re in a season where your little guy needs you early in the morning. My kiddos are older (11 and 17) so I can sneak out in the morning without disruption to them.
But that overwhelm you mention the moment your laptop opens - girl I feel that too. What has helped me is placing inspirational quotes/sayings right next to (sometimes on top of!) my laptop so that my eyes see those words consistently and hopefully, with time and continual immersion, my mind will slow down the ticker list of all the to dos. Some days are easier than others.
Here’s a permission stick for you - replace one of the sticky notes of to-dos with “how we do anything is probably how we do everything.”
Maybe it will loosen up some of the sticky overwhelm.
I am always moved by your words, but those photos are almost as lovely as your words and so morning Zen. Love how you incorporate gorgeous and personal photos in our posts. I am better at taking a lunch time walk than I am a morning walk these days, but you remind me to "drop out to drop in." Love this: a permission slip to peace...ah, I sense your peace right here, Allison.
As long as we find a time, even if short, to drop out to drop in, I think that’s what moves the needle.
I am actually trying to take more mid day walks - leave the work, Allison and step away! My mind is often more rigid mid day and could benefit from some mid day
This was poetry, Allison. Thank you for this. I love when you write about your kinship with nature. It clearly runs deep in you and the universe is receptive to that energy you put out--I mean, all those Y sticks! Amazing! How lovely to see them as permission sticks to simply be; to detach yourself from all measurement, calculation, planning, performance, productivity that rules our days. I had the incredible opportunity to practice having nature as my teacher in my 15 days on the Camino. Outside every day, most of the day, moving, looking, feeling nature around me, inside me, move through me, the wind, rain, sun, clouds, the mist off the river. One figure moving against a landscape--nothing at all, and everything. You've captured it here, so beautifully.
As for how I enter my days, I have had a mindful morning practice for the past two years. While I had attempted it earlier in my life, it was only then that I was ready for it. I needed something desperately to center me, when so much of my life was dissolving and changing around me. I didn't want to lose sight of ME; actually, in truth, I was only just getting to know her. So by rising very early, meditating, doing yoga, walking in nature, watching the sun come up, journaling--it all had that centering effect you describe here. I could breathe into and enter my day with a calmness I needed then and need just as much now.
I want to share with you a lovely song a fellow pilgrim (a woman who had left her own marriage 'because there was no room for her dreams.') shared with me. It might be nice to listen to on your walks:
“One figure moving against a landscape--nothing at all, and everything.” Yes - a BIG yes to that. I know the everythingness you mention here. When I write about the kinship that nature provides and then step back after publishing I wonder, is anyone going to understand what I mean?
You do. You know the feeling because you commune with nature the same way. How lucky are we?
And how lucky are YOU to have spent 15 days in nature’s classroom on the Camino?!?! I’m looking forward to reading your part 2 this weekend. Saving it for a time I can go slow with it.
Thanks for the song rec. I’ll listen today 💞 I appreciate your thoughtful responses, always.
I only hike solo—but never alone. I have many treasured guests who come along with me. God. Music. Poetry. Animals. The breeze, the fog and the sunlight through the trees. I touch bark and whisper to the trees; sometimes they touch me and whisper back. I invite anger, grief, relief, joy, peace, pride, doubt—all the emotions and all the questions. None are off limits in my sacred church without walls.
Allison, you joined me yesterday as I traveled to the forest “for-rest.” And I was so grateful for your invitation to see all the permission sticks around us. I love your words and you-ness and the gift of your “perspectables.” This essay was gorgeous. A true gift. 🙏🏻🍃
Awwww Jennifer! Your comment made me a bit leaky! Which I love. Tears of resonance are my favorite kind. Thank you for bringing me with you to the forest. Thank you for being a fellow traveler who notices these things. The sacred church with no walls has so much to show us.
I appreciate you!
I love this SO much! Walking is my #1 tool to help regulate my emotions & to help me stay sober. I'm celebrating 700 days today🎉💕 You inspired me to find permission sticks🍂 I took a few photos, but I don't see a way to share them in this comment section. Thanks for sharing this beautiful writing❤️
I couldn’t figure out how to specifically tag you - there are a LOT of Crystal C readers here! 😅 but come find me in Notes and drop your photo. I’d love to see your ☮️stick 🫶
Congrats on 700 days Crystal!!! 💞
It makes me so happy to hear that you are finding your own permission sticks. Sobriety has gifted me with permission to find peace daily in the woods. Daily walks are critical to self-care, too. I’m untethered without them. I get it!
I wish we could attach photos to the comment section but not an option here on the Stack. Maybe I’ll post something on Notes and tag you as a mention. I’d love to see your permission stick!
Thank you for this Allison. I have a long relationship with trees, written about them and enjoyed them on long walks. They, and nature in general, are an inspiration. Some of my best ideas and peaceful thoughts came during long walks in the woods. I love how you have translated this into permission. BTW, I am Tawny's Aunt. Good luck to you!!!
Hi Tia! My best ideas are “downloaded” in the woods - I so get what you mean. Thanks for reading and sharing here. It’s been great getting to know you in Tawny’s class!
Love the idea of yes (and then permission) sticks! What a great reminder! As for entering the world, every day I do so by waking up my body, either with yoga or a morning run (which i do a pre-run stretch for) and then post run i do my yoga. That's been my daily routine for almost 9 years now (the yoga anyway, I just started running again last year after a long break)
Yoga has been a game changer for me, too. Morning time on the mat totally shifts me and grounds me. I gave up running last year but part of me wonders if I should try to lace up again. Honestly, I'm enjoying my slow meandering pace in the wooded trails so much I don't feel called to push my pace.
Thanks for reading and sharing here, Caitlin!
So beautiful, Allison. Thank you for sharing your practice with us. I especially love the parts where you allow your problems and responsibilities to wait on the sidelines until you take care of yourself first. This is something I'm also getting better at, but that part could always use some extra attention.
Thanks, Kaitlyn. I'm working on this, too! Some days my problems patiently wait and some days they insist on interrupting. I guess it's the return, day after day, that makes the real difference.
I’m now going to be looking for y sticks. ❤️
I love it! I bet you’ll see them everywhere!
“This practice isn’t running from my problems. It is telling them, hold on. I know you are there, and this is how I will acknowledge you right now. By pressing pause. Not delete. Not escape.”
Allison I just love this sentence. You’re not shirking your responsibilities—you’re attending to the most important one first—yourself.
I love the Y sticks ☺️❤️
Thanks Dee. This comment landed right in my heart. I appreciate you sliding in to share. 🙏🏼
And YES to all the Y sticks - YES to self-led permission.
This is so beautiful Allison, and I felt calmed just reading it. I have tried many times to have a calm morning routine and enter my day calmly. When I was quitting alcohol, this was necessary - and possible. Since having a child (who is still only 3 years old) it mostly feels impossible. My day usually starts with him jumping into bed with me. Which is wonderful but also, I'm immediately into getting him ready for nursery and getting myself ready for the day. But I know that once he's at nursery and I have that beautiful pause, I could spend more time moving slowly... and sometimes I do; I go sit by the river and peacefully have my coffee. But then as soon as I sit down at my laptop, at my desk which has tons of notes and to do lists all over it, that sense of urgency kicks in and I'm rushing and trying to do 10 things at once. And once it's time to leave to pick up my son after lunch, I'm frantic and stressed.
This line really hit me: 'How we do anything is probably how we do everything.'
Shit.
Lots for me to contemplate and no doubt forget again! Thank you for sharing and for this reminder to me.x
Thanks for sharing all of that here, Ellie.
I truly think that the power of pausing/sliding down is powerful no matter when you incorporate it. And it’s going to change depending on the season you’re in, right?
You’re in a season where your little guy needs you early in the morning. My kiddos are older (11 and 17) so I can sneak out in the morning without disruption to them.
But that overwhelm you mention the moment your laptop opens - girl I feel that too. What has helped me is placing inspirational quotes/sayings right next to (sometimes on top of!) my laptop so that my eyes see those words consistently and hopefully, with time and continual immersion, my mind will slow down the ticker list of all the to dos. Some days are easier than others.
Here’s a permission stick for you - replace one of the sticky notes of to-dos with “how we do anything is probably how we do everything.”
Maybe it will loosen up some of the sticky overwhelm.
Thanks for being here, Ellie 💕
I am always moved by your words, but those photos are almost as lovely as your words and so morning Zen. Love how you incorporate gorgeous and personal photos in our posts. I am better at taking a lunch time walk than I am a morning walk these days, but you remind me to "drop out to drop in." Love this: a permission slip to peace...ah, I sense your peace right here, Allison.
As long as we find a time, even if short, to drop out to drop in, I think that’s what moves the needle.
I am actually trying to take more mid day walks - leave the work, Allison and step away! My mind is often more rigid mid day and could benefit from some mid day
permission sticks 🙃
Thanks for being here, Rosemary 💛
“this kind of devotion never feels like duty” 🙏🏼 yes and yes
And yes again 🙏🏼💞
Such a beautiful, powerful devotion, Allison. ❤️
Thank you, Dana. I always appreciate your presence here 💕
contemplation or calculation... thank you
💕
I can’t believe you’ve been gatekeeping your Y-stick ritual all this time. It’s wonderful.
Hahaha. I'm such a dork.
xoxoxo
This was poetry, Allison. Thank you for this. I love when you write about your kinship with nature. It clearly runs deep in you and the universe is receptive to that energy you put out--I mean, all those Y sticks! Amazing! How lovely to see them as permission sticks to simply be; to detach yourself from all measurement, calculation, planning, performance, productivity that rules our days. I had the incredible opportunity to practice having nature as my teacher in my 15 days on the Camino. Outside every day, most of the day, moving, looking, feeling nature around me, inside me, move through me, the wind, rain, sun, clouds, the mist off the river. One figure moving against a landscape--nothing at all, and everything. You've captured it here, so beautifully.
As for how I enter my days, I have had a mindful morning practice for the past two years. While I had attempted it earlier in my life, it was only then that I was ready for it. I needed something desperately to center me, when so much of my life was dissolving and changing around me. I didn't want to lose sight of ME; actually, in truth, I was only just getting to know her. So by rising very early, meditating, doing yoga, walking in nature, watching the sun come up, journaling--it all had that centering effect you describe here. I could breathe into and enter my day with a calmness I needed then and need just as much now.
I want to share with you a lovely song a fellow pilgrim (a woman who had left her own marriage 'because there was no room for her dreams.') shared with me. It might be nice to listen to on your walks:
Centering Prayer by The Porter's Gate
https://open.spotify.com/track/2cOI1sNZ6osgGABdBT7lks
“One figure moving against a landscape--nothing at all, and everything.” Yes - a BIG yes to that. I know the everythingness you mention here. When I write about the kinship that nature provides and then step back after publishing I wonder, is anyone going to understand what I mean?
You do. You know the feeling because you commune with nature the same way. How lucky are we?
And how lucky are YOU to have spent 15 days in nature’s classroom on the Camino?!?! I’m looking forward to reading your part 2 this weekend. Saving it for a time I can go slow with it.
Thanks for the song rec. I’ll listen today 💞 I appreciate your thoughtful responses, always.