A Note on Seeing From Along the Ray

Mr. Raymond Hines of Along the Ray (also the founder of Ye Olde Blogroll where you can now find The New Leaf Journal) published some random thoughts from his travels on July 23, 2022. We find the author wandering in the wilderness remembering a “past great love of his.” After writing his reflections, he chimed in with a wise note to self:

NOTE TO SELF: Don’t get so lost in your thoughts on a hike through a lush forest that you end up not seeing anything.

I am a big proponent of walks (see my posts on winter walks, evening walks, appreciating the seasons, and 15-mile walks to see cow statues). One of the best things about walks is that they are conducive to careful contemplation, as the post by Ray shows. However, purposeful contemplation, as valuable as it is, should not come at the expense of being aware of one’s surroundings during a walk. Ray’s words are wise, and we discover in his post that he heeded his own note:

Luckily I woke up three quarters of a way through and turned awareness back on.

You can read his original post for his accounts of the sites and sounds from the hike.