Thursday, September 12, 2013

Wandering Aimlessly in Nature

Out of the four options, the wander experiment intrigued me the most.  Mainly because it seemed absurd but also because it's something I have never done and thought it would be a unique, one-time experience.  So that is what I chose to do for this assignment.   
I decided not to take anything with me except for my phone in my pocket to take pictures.  I'm always carrying something and thought that it might be an interesting change to go somewhere without a bag at all.  So I decided to start by just walking out my front door and heading in the opposite direction of my daily school path, already feeling weird with not having anything to carry... I aimlessly started wandering down the streets and turned whenever I felt the need to have a change in direction.  I would usually get lost in thought and would forget I had been walking down the same road for a while and would then shift direction once I came out of daydreaming. 
After walking around for about 15 minutes or so (I didn't really have a good sense of time while doing this...) my roommate saw me and stopped her car and said she was heading up the canyon for a dinner and invited me to come.  My first instinct was to say "No thanks, I'm doing homework."  But that seemed strange to do with this experiment because it says in the description to do the opposite of what you think you should, so I did and jumped in the car.  As we were driving up I shut my eyes so I wouldn't know where we were and explained the assignment to my roommate as we drove up the canyon. 
When we got to wherever the destination was, we both got out of the car and I just started wandering in the direction of a trail (naturally) I then realized I was headed for the typical route and again decided to do the opposite of what I thought I should do, which was to follow the trail.  So I veered off the path and just started roaming and wandering through nature.  It was really neat to not know where I was and to be surrounded by nature.  I didn't think about anything but what I was seeing, hearing, feeling, and smelling.  I heard many different noises of wildlife and not much else except my footsteps and some occasional wind.  I couldn't see anything but beauty around me and couldn't help but feel peaceful.  My thoughts were distracted when I was wandering around the Provo streets.  I would get carried away with a memory or thoughts of other people.  But when I was wandering around in nature, I found that my thoughts only consisted of the beauty of the things around me and it even lead to be a pretty spiritual experience because all I could think about was how blessed I am to live on this beautiful earth that God created.  Not only was I wandering physically, but my thoughts were wandering even more.  My mind was exploring the possibilities of what one could create with God's power and what more there is to this world that I have never seen and may never know exists... My thoughts were so consumed by other things that I lost my sense of time and place and found my self deep in thought for the remainder of my "wandering." 
During my time wandering in the woods (however long it was...) nothing really mattered.  I was "lost" but felt completely comfortable and content with where I was. 

This  experiment was really interesting for me because I live a very structured life that is very busy and every minute is scheduled for some purpose.  So to just wander around with no purpose or sense of time was foreign and strange at first, but soon turned into a peaceful and enjoyable journey through nature and my thoughts.  After reflecting on the assignment and what I had done I realized that during my time wandering through nature (however long it was...) nothing else mattered.  I was "lost" but felt completely comfortable and content with where I was.  It was a nice change from daily life to be carefree and purposefully take time to do nothing but leave yourself to your thoughts and be in nature.  That is something I never get to do so I was grateful for this assignment, I think it was a great learning experience overall.



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