So much of what occupies our days and thoughts are simply outer things passing by.  Time hiking in the wilderness allows what you’d think should be obvious to us to become gradually apparent.  What’s left is the inner—and ironically, most of us have very little idea what lies inside us.

I’ve been blessed from time to time with seeing the true innermost being of people close to me.  As a healer, I see people’s highest selves when working in their energy.  It’s very humbling.  I used to think that it’s a pity people don’t show others their higher selves…then it occurred to me to wonder this about myself.   Did I know my own energy?  My highest self?  That beautiful vision inside I’d seen of others?  And do I show that to others?  I realized I had work to do.

A mentor once explained overcoming character defects as a process of removing layers of debris so that the better qualities could grow up through.  I love that.  It speaks to a life not of self-criticism, but of constant growth and discovery.  It’s a transcendence.  It’s also not a “doing,” but an allowing.  We worry so much typically about what’s the right thing to do, or are we attracting the right things, or why aren’t we attracting what we’d like.

In the quiet and calm space of a wilderness hike, I can start to focus instead on being.  Not whether I’m doing the right things, or being attractive, or manifesting the right dreams, but simply what I am.  Seeing the inner beauty that I’ve seen in others.  Letting that light speak for itself.  Allowing what is to grow and flourish.  When I do, it feels like a continual cocoon, with the outer layers falling away, the inner light growing and expanding.

What happens becomes immaterial—it’s the outer debris falling away.  I remember to look to the divine—the source of that inner light and growth.  This is how the natural world grows, yes?  Gradually, continually, shedding the outdated, growing outward from within.  Not striving, not worrying, unconcerned, just being.  And in so doing, ever expanding and renewing.

Once in that space, however, it’s hard to imagine how we could ever get away from this.  How did we get so far from our own nature?  That’s the power of mind.  And if it can bring us so far separate from what we truly are, imagine what it could do if used positively instead.

I’ve heard it said that the five closest people to us are who we are becoming.  I think that’s true of where we hang out as well.  Sometimes we just outgrow where we used to feel comfortable—not necessarily as a negative rejection, but rather simply as no longer a fit.  I think the wilderness serves this purpose as well.  By hanging out in that purer, clearer, unclouded mirror, we gradually begin to clear as well.

When we do, our true inner selves can shine.

Growth springs from within, though we often look for it from without.

Are you interested in hearing more about Wilderness Hikes as projects evolve in the future? Let me know here, so I have a list of those interested ready to go, by clicking here (and page all the way down to click “Sign Up” at the bottom):
Join the “Wilderness Hike” list.

If you’d like to hear about my “Getting Unstuck” book as it gets closer to release, let me know by clicking here (and you’re welcome to do *both,* of course–page all the way down to click “Sign Up” at the bottom):
Join the “Getting Unstuck” list.

October 2012 is a series of daily posts about “A Wilderness Hike,” taking readers through the healing of wilderness experience and glimpses of my work at Kwan Yin Healing and of my book, “Getting Unstuck.”

You can read the series from the start via the links here:

Oct. 1:    A Wilderness Hike
Oct. 2:   The Sixth Hour
Oct. 3:   Snowy Mountain
Oct. 4:   Letting Go of Baggage–the Wilderness Way
Oct. 5:   “Bear” the Thought
Oct. 6:   Mountain.  Buddha.  Impermanence.
Oct. 7:   The Rewards of Rain
Oct. 8:   Finding the Keys
Oct. 9:   “I’d love to, but times are bad.”
Oct. 10:  Attracting the Law of Attraction
Oct. 11:  We are not our thoughts
Oct. 12:  Honesty, Forgiveness, Healing
Oct. 13:  Getting Unstuck:  Feeling Overwhelmed
Oct. 14:  Money is remarkably easy to come by, if that’s all you want.
Oct. 15:  To be Time Rich, Learn to Be
Oct. 16:  Changing Thoughts for Changing Work
Oct. 17:  Finding and Sharing your Gifts
Oct. 18:  Do you want to be the boss?  Be sure you want to run the show.
Oct. 19:  Finding jobs within jobs
Oct. 20: Bright Mountain Dream
Oct. 21: Escape the Wilderness of Addictions
Oct. 22: The Importance of Spiritual Direction
Oct. 23: In Search of Enlightenment
Oct. 24: Relationship Thoughts from the Wilderness
Oct. 25: We learn in realtionships
Oct. 26: Chrysalis
Oct. 27: Self-Healing, part 1
Oct. 28: Self-Healing, part 2:  Time for a new perspective
Oct. 29: Dix Mountain
Oct. 30: The Mist-Filled Path
Oct. 31: From Wilderness to Wondrousness

Enjoy!