YouLookFab Forum » Topic: WIW :: To Greet the Trees

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: WIW :: To Greet the Trees https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:06:16 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php catgirl on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1210440 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:51:42 +0000 catgirl 1210440@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I always listen to the exact same music when I run, starting with Michael Jackson "Don't stop till you get enough". I can't think or not think when I run - I need distraction because I've never found any kind of zen in running. So it's dance music all the way! Hearing it conditions me to get into running mode. Lovely to see you! Anonymous on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1210407 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:15:21 +0000 Anonymous 1210407@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I loved reading your report of your running in the trees. I too find much solace in the woods, enough to make a profession of it, lol. I have been training pretty hard this winter/spring and end up in the gym 2-3 times a week. I try to sneak away for a long run on the weekend in the woods. Early mornings are best, the birds singing, the sun is just coming up, everything seems fresh.  I forget that I am even running most times. Any issues I am dealing with seem so clear and easy to overcome. I have been doing this since I was a little. We had a small tree lot behind our house I use to explore for hours. It was always a solo activity. If I was with someone else I remember feeling like they were trespassing. Not necessarily on the land but on me. Luckily, I have woods across the street from me.  I am better about sharing now, my girls love exploring the 'canyon'. Lisa on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1210308 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:28:59 +0000 Lisa 1210308@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Yay for running.  I stick to running in a local park, I like the scenery better than being on the roads, plus, I don't have to worry about cars.  It gives me time to 'clear my mind' on the days I need it and to 'let me focus' on days when I am struggling with solving a problem.  Neel on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1210272 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:42:46 +0000 Neel 1210272@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I just wanted to say I loved your post .. Such a thoughtful post! I listen to music ... Someday I would love to run into nature's arms. For now, this is all I have! Ornella on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1210156 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 08:03:02 +0000 Ornella 1210156@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and insights. And here's is some warm weather your way Angie ;-) Reading the comments reminded me of something I once read here on the forum. I'm copying the words so I can also access them easier in the future. They are from <a rel="nofollow" href="http://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw---530-am#post-1073392">Runs with Dolphins, written on her thread "5:30 a.m</a>".: <ul> <li>For me running is my time for meditation, my thinking time, my creative time, my ME time. I've solved a lot of perceived problems during my runs.</li> </ul> What I was particularly struck by was the way she referred to problems as "perceived". I could relate to that very easily as my runs started as a way of escaping the situations I perceived as problematic, only to see them in different, more manageable light, but only after I had forced myself to shift my attention wholly and completely to something else even for a relatively short period of time. It always felt - and feels again - like hitting the RESET button :-) Angie on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209881 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:10:54 +0000 Angie 1209881@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Send the warm weather this way when you have a moment.  Angie on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209880 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:10:36 +0000 Angie 1209880@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I'm not a runner either but I'm happy that you feel at peace and finding time for yourself., Ornella. Enjoy the stunning Spring weather. My Papa is too. xo Sveta on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209866 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:02:05 +0000 Sveta 1209866@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Ornella, it is so great you are finding some time for yourself (I hope it means you are feeling better and less stressed that last year - yay!) I am not a runner (I prefer the gym for workouts) but I love to walk in our river-side forest and I totally relate to ''no music" rule. My today's walk was filled with birds singing, river water surging and watching how ducks and geese use their crazy spring full water to get a fun ride. We are still pretty much in winter here but today was a glorious sunny day and all this snow is finally starting to melt. I am so looking forward to flowers!!! LoriFLA on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209854 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 01:53:36 +0000 LoriFLA 1209854@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Wonderful post and photo of the outdoors.  I also prefer not to run on concrete. I run (more like jog, 11:30 pace) a few times a week.  I have completed a half marathon last year and have signed up for another in the Fall.  I recently sustained a calf injury that has kept me from running. I'm all better now and just ran a 5k last weekend.  I always run with music if I'm alone and I always use music on "long runs" even if I'm with a friend.  When I run with friends on "short runs" I never use music.  I find that music motivates me to keep going and masks my heavy breathing. ;-) I find that the act of running, even with music, is meditative and mind clearing and keeps me mentally clear and calm for the rest of the day.  I use whatever it takes to keep running! Similar to Suz, when walking I listen to podcasts, NPR, or audiobooks.   Suz on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209839 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 01:38:59 +0000 Suz 1209839@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ What a beautiful place, Ornella, and what a beautiful essay you have written on mindfulness in movement.  I also run (and go to the gym) without music. I prefer to be alone with my thoughts and feelings, whatever they are. Often "boredom" leads to "breakthrough" in creative work (if I am stuck).  I do listen to music and/or stories/ discussions (via podcast) when I walk. Not always (I also enjoy silent walks). But walking, for some reason, seems like a better time for listening, and especially for listening to poetry.  Day Vies on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209788 Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:09:48 +0000 Day Vies 1209788@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Hi Ornella -- So the house is finally coming to a point where you'll be moving in. Congratulations.  I can completely relate to running with and without music. I have run a couple of half-marathons and for those events and training I do not use music. The trainers (who were correct) discouraged it because the music affects your pace -- it may encourage you to run faster than you should when you're just starting up again. Because I had so far to run, pooping out in the first 6 miles when there was 7 more to go was not an option. I find when I run I am focused on my body-- it's meditative because I am present in the moment, how my feet feel, how my legs feel (should I adjust my pace? lean forward? lean back? etc.) are questions more important to me than any other concern -- quite freeing. There is no room to think about much else when I run. I also run for three minutes and walk for one minute (you run farther and faster!) so I am also constantly watching the time so that I can change from running to walking and back. Needless to say I enjoy running without music. I get caught up in the music when I run with it and feel like I am more proned to injury because I am not focused on my body.  Enjoy your run! Mochi on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209282 Sun, 30 Mar 2014 12:58:57 +0000 Mochi 1209282@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Such a beautiful essay on the struggle to be mindful in daily life, Ornella. Your writing is always so nourishing and thought-provoking in the gentlest way possible. I don't run, but you have opened a window onto your practice that makes it very clear. I am looking forward to following the discussion. Thank you for starting it. ManidipaM on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209239 Sun, 30 Mar 2014 10:26:46 +0000 ManidipaM 1209239@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Yay on running again! And what a track you chose! Heavenly. I am.in the opposite position of heading into aestivation from my walks in the park. Some days it is tolerable by 6pm... just about. And no, no music in my much too urban neighbourhood near the highways with a baby strapped to me. I never did music here in Delhi... even inside a residential development, rash driving is a huge risk. When I pop in the ear phones it is for the gym or indoor workouts. And I first started serious walking for exercise sake with hubby in tow... so it was us time from unmanageable schedules on the job. May your mindful runs continue to be filled with joy and beauty and calm summer light. Lantana on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209233 Sun, 30 Mar 2014 09:47:05 +0000 Lantana 1209233@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thank you Ornella for sharing your reflections on hibernation. I accept there is little point in fighting my animal nature and I respond to the changing seasons with changed expectations of myself. Right now, in autumn, as in Spring, I beaver away at out of doors projects the whole day long. In high Summer it's too hot to do little else but read and sew. In the depths of winter, when the days shorten, I like to eat and sleep! Consequently, my fitness levels in the mild seasons are high and just OK in winter and summer. What I aim to do is to be fit and trim at the end of autumn and at the end of spring so that I enter hibernation or estivation in the best possible condition. When I'm physically active, walking, swimming and gardening I'm happy with my own thoughts. When I'm on a long drive I like to listen to music. Ornella on "WIW :: To Greet the Trees" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wiw-to-greet-the-trees#post-1209222 Sun, 30 Mar 2014 08:18:58 +0000 Ornella 1209222@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Dear friends, I have unexpectedly found myself on the forum hiatus following an increase of off-line activities due to the weather. We are using every moment to check the progress of the works on our house and the furniture hunting takes up the remaining time. We have no move date yet, but also have no indications the initial building plans would change significantly, so we keep checking things off of our lists hopeful that we’d be in early this summer. Wardrobe-wise, these past few weeks have seen me reaching for either <a rel="nofollow" href="http://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/fancy-playing-style-this-xyz-for-me">chambray shirt</a> as the starting point of my outfits, for which the recent experiments offered a lot of options, or wearing BF jeans - those outfits too a revelation after the challenge I was given by <a rel="nofollow" href="http://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ylf-challenge-chain-greyscale-challenges-ornella#post-1197492">Greyscale in the YLF Challenge Chain</a>. (Which reminds me, I have to check what’s been going on with others in the meantime ). Whatever time I have left, I’m trying to use for myself. I have started running again after the Winter break. As much as I tried to force myself to go and run in the Winter, I simply could not - the darkness and cold are not my friends. Maybe it’ll be different next Winter, but this time I simply hibernated. It’s an useful piece of knowledge about myself, the one that seems so obvious now that I figured it out (isn't it always like that?). It will hopefully help me navigate the next Winter better prepared.  What keeps me fascinated is how the relocation to different climate resulted with enriching contents, adaptations and realisations in all aspects of my life. My favourite must be the simplest and most obvious one - watching the seasons change. The colours, the trees, the shadows... The light! There’s a wonderful view of the small woods which separates us from the main road and which is just under our balcony. It’s by far my favourite feature of the current apartment. We’re low enough to see the grass and the bushes, the rabbits and squirrels once they come out, but we’re also high enough to see the sky though the tree tops.  It was one day last Summer, in the midst of the stressful period when I felt I could take it no more, that I finally put on my running shoes and run away from it all - to those trees. With numerous failed attempts over the last years to build my fitness levels through running, I expected I’d last only few weeks this time too. But, I found myself needing those runs for the sake of my inner calm more than anything else. It was proper me time.  Something was different this time though and it became clear to me once I switched to running through the neighbourhood thinking the change of scenery would make thinks different and interesting (I don’t listen to music when I run) - I don’t like running on concrete.  And I missed the trees, I missed that moment when I get tired then look up and see the green leaves and the sky. So, I went back to the woods. It’s the gentle new green leaves that lured me out of the hibernation this Spring again. It just felt natural to put the running shoes on again and go out. Those runs once again fill me with great joy and calm.  I mentioned I don’t listen to music while I run. For the time being I don’t plan to start. There is something very purifying when a cacophony of thoughts is calmed down by the simple task of pushing through a physical barrier. And, one of the biggest challenges running has ever presented for me was handling boredom. So, I want to learn to be with myself in such moments. I'm trying to defeat boredom by thinking about positive affirmations. I have a feeling that music would be a shortcut to not thinking, while I want to learn to sort through whatever occupies my head. Meditation in motion.  <ul> <li>Question: Can anyone relate through their experience? Do you listen to anything while you run and how does it change the experience?</li> </ul> So, for now it’s just me and the gear, the only take on pastels I managed more or less successfully this Spring. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/the-sky-is-falling-down-because/page/2#post-1192613">The sky is not falling yet</a> ;-) ~ Thank you to everyone who commented on my previous thread, as mentioned before off-line life just took over. There are some unanswered questions on it, which I hope to address in similar post in the future.  Also, I am not sure if this thread would end up post-and-run too, but I will return to it. Thank you in advance for your comments.