Date: 2016-10-24
From: WEilliam Brien Memorial Shelter

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

The weather has gone from bad to worse. The weather forecast says rain for some of today, and a 36 hour windstorm (steady winds of 40 M.P.H. all day long). Yesterday, on a very slick, wet, lichen covered rock, I took a very hard fall. It happened so quickly that I had no time to try to prevent the fall. Luck was with me, and I suffered not so much as a scratch! Today, with more rain, and wind gusts of 40 MPH, and my backpack acting like a wind sail, and very cold temperatures all day long I am going to take a rest day. I have one other motivation for taking a rest day today. In just a few days, my hike will be over, and I want to spend today reflecting on what I have experienced during the last 7 months. A few days ago, I was hiking with a young man who asked me if I had learned anything as a result of this hike. Prior to doing this hike, I read a book by Nimblewill Nomad ("Ten million Steps"). In that book he says he experienced a profound spiritual awakening during his 11 month hike. I wondered if the same thing might happen to me. While my thinking has changed in subtle ways, I have had no earth shattering spiritual awakenings. I have come to one probably important realization. That realization is that most people, myself included, need to learn to love and appreciate themselves much more. " Be kind to yourself, so that you can be happy enough to be kind to the world." I wish I could tell you that this very profound sentence in quotes came to me after a month of sitting semi-naked and cross legged under a banyon tree, subsisting for a month on bread and water, while chanting and meditating all day long, but the reality is a little bit different..... I found this sentence scrawled on a privy wall (I think the author might be Misha Collins). (WARNING; this blogger is about to climb on his soapbox) As I reflect on the most generous, giving, loving people I know, without exception, they are very gentle , loving, and forgiving of themselves. In many ways, I am my own worst enemy. When I screw up, I am very hard on myself. At times, I do something that is very, very smart and intelligent, and give myself very little credit for this, while beating myself up for mistakes that are often very small ( I think most people do this.) I am trying to learn to pat myself on the back for my successes, and to look upon my failures as learning experiences. I have come to believe that a person cannot love others and experience the many joys that life has to offer until he/she first learns to love himself/herself. Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. It was SOOO cold that day, that I lay inside my tent inside my sleeping bag, and all my friends took off to hike, so it was a very long boring day for me, but I was rewarded with yet another great spiritual truth: On a very cold day, it is better to hike than to be very bored and cold while huddling inside your tent and sleeping bag all day! The wind was REALLY whipping thru the trees, and all day long I kept wondering if one of those trees was going to come down on my head. Thankfully, this did not happen.