The Forest as a Thinking Space

Microseason No. 6, March 1-4

Just up the road from my house there’s a forest that feels like a cloister. This place is bright with its own activity, but hidden from the bustle of everyday life.

Whenever I walk there, I have a sense of my relative youth and smallness in the presence of the gentle giants: old beech and oak trees towering above me.

Let’s walk together.

Here, you can see there’s absolutely no reason to hurry. Time expands and pools around us.

Maybe it feels like we’re walking around inside a cathedral or a beautiful library—high-ceilinged and luminous. A place where thoughts can expand.

The swaying rhythm of our walking helps us to focus, to converse, to think more deeply and puzzle out a problem, or to clear our minds and walk in companionable silence— not thinking at all.

The relief.

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) lights up the understory with its bright chartreuse flowers and makes nectar for early pollinators.

Try taking a knotty problem out for a walk.

You may find that the solution becomes clear after you’ve spent a quiet hour in nature’s beauty.