The following post is from the clan elder, Margaret, who has completed her time here at the Family Wilderness Guide Program this quarter moon and is returning to her home.

For many reasons this 3 month experience has been impressively challenging; in ways I had not even imagined. Among them were loss of structured time: schedules, calendars, making plans or even knowing what time it was. This created some vague, insecure sense of being nowhere. There were suns (days) that dragged. I had to deal with my thoughts of escape; of counting suns (days). Until I left I had to bring myself back to the present with all that was so new and different. I had to adjust to suns with little structure (after drinking water, peeing, and pooping). I could eat breakfast whenever. Usually there was nothing I had to do although plenty Icoulddo and that needed to be done. MEETINGS were the exception–very important to be at.

It seems so paradoxical that we deeply yearn for leisure time–less stress and demands on our lives–yet when it is possible, we struggle against it. And so, I have slowly been learning to move through the suns in a more spontaneous way; trusting my needs will be met; trusting that I will learn what I came for, and trusting that I don’t need to impress the clan with taking on any more tasks than I have energy or desire for.

One of the gifts I have given myself in slowing down is a quick meditative time at the evening sunset. Watching the sun sink behind trees and clouds. Often the sky is bathed in brilliant afterlight. Sometimes soft pastels. The lake is reflecting the beauty of it all. The loon might be calling out its plaintive wail. Or a great blue heron flaps by squaking like a prehistoric creature. I will remember how precious these timeless moments were. And hopefully create similar times of just being with the beauty of our natural world.