Dear friends,
My first experience in Huerquehue National Park, La Araucania, Chile inspired my first book, Mindfulness and the Natural World.
Having spent another 10 days there last month leading a retreat, it remains one of the most inspiring places in the world to me. Huerquehue is a place of incredible beauty, simplicity and untouched wilderness.
To me, it feels like a place for coming home, feeling back into our ‘authentic’ selves, into what really matters to us. A place for just being.
Words and pictures never feel enough to share it. Nothing can replace direct experience but I did write this little piece of writing to share its essence with a few photos (below).
To me, Huerquehue feels like a ‘dream place’, a place that could not exist in real life, but somehow, it does… It is a place that reminds me that real magic does exist, if we pay attention.
Of course, there are many other places in the world where we can find a feeling of coming home and they will be different for all of us!
Where do you feel at home? Where do you feel most able to connect with yourself? What natural places feel like ‘real magic’ to you?
Share your thoughts below!
Claire x
Dreams of reality
Tell me of a place
Where carpets are moss and curtains are lichens
Where dinosaur-like trees hold the wisdom of time
Where free-flowing waterfalls hide emerald lagoons
Tell me of a place
Where elusive wild cats roam freely by night
Where jewel-like hummingbirds dart past us by day
Where ancient trees reach higher than we imagine
Tell me of a place
Where forever the sound of the river will flow
Where spring colours of aliveness will always mesmerise
And the soft and gentle breeze will softly cocoon us
Tell me of a place
Where death is simply a cradle for new life
An extension of the beautiful freedom of the world
It’s not a flamboyant place
That shouts “come and get me”
But a place that hides behind those green hills
Like a secretive cat quietly aware of its beauty
A place that is humble but asks to be heard
This place is a dream but yet it is real
I have seen it I promise, it’s just over there
My wish for today is to share it with you
This hidden reassuring cathedral of life
Have us sit side-by-side in the peace of the world
Have us bathe in the stillness and lay down in the mystery
Have us wonder wide-eyed at the magic it holds
And perhaps for a moment, all noise would cease
We’d step back, stop ‘knowing’ and gift full attention
Together we’d receive the silence of the wild
And once again hear the wise, trustworthy whisper of life.
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Beautifully written. Thank you for sharing.
I feel it.
I am there.
I am home.
Thank you! I am happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Hello Claire,
Thank you so much for another glorious post. In this past week I’ve been considering what living a life and awe and wonder might mean, because this is my aspiration, and your beautiful words and pictures from Heurquehue bring me abundant encouragement.
Warmly, Christopher