Have you ever seen the famous picture of Vietnamese Buddhist Thích Quang Duc self-immolating in the middle of a busy Saigon intersection? The image repeatedly came to me as I hiked along the undulating rocky trails of the Sheltowee Trace. I do not use this historical event as an analogy, but rather to illustrate the powers of mind over matter.
There is a lot of pain that comes from hiking long distance. When you climb extremely large hills, you gasp for air. Large blisters form on your feet. Your knees buckle. You begin to feel muscles in your thighs and buttocks that you never realized you had. Your head aches from dehydration. The heavy pack on your back wants to drag you into the ground. If you didn’t get enough sleep the previous night sometimes you want to fall asleep on your feet, but you forge ahead. The center of your focus becomes taking each step forward, and you mentally push the pain to the outside of your being. Not only is hiking a great metaphor for the ebb and flow, ups and downs, tragedy and exultation of the path we call life, it is great practice for dealing with discomfort.
The trail gives you direction. You move forward both physically and spiritually. With each step you find new revelations; God’s beautiful country unfolds before you. Once you commit, there is no turning back. When the pain comes, you can lie down and die or pick yourself up and finish the job you came to do. It takes incredible character, diligence, integrity, and perseverance to finish a thing while enduring great pain.
But you just don’t take it. You learn to coexist with it. You give it to God. You move it away from your center. You find peace within your core. And finally, once it is gone, you reflect back to see that you have grown. It becomes an amazing spiritual experience…
May we all find our path to walk.
We hiked 18 miles on Saturday. Thankfully the weatherman had it completely wrong. The day was partly cloudy with no precipitation and started out primarily with a ridge walk. A large portion of the trail followed historic tram roads that once transported coal from the mines strewn throughout the valley. Sunday, we got an early start before finishing the section at 34 miles total for the weekend.
Total miles: 34
Fitbit steps: 106,000+
Big South Fork and Daniel Boone National Forest