via Wikimedia Commons

“We are bombarded with political ads on television, radio, and social media, and receive an onslaught of annoying robocalls on our phones. And no doubt after the elections are over, we’ll be subjected to endless analyses of the results. I find this constant ‘news awareness’ stressful.”

I wrote these words two years ago for the editorial, “Finding a Peaceful Place,” in the December 2018 issue. I could have written them today, or actually, any day these past few months.

The simple medicine of taking a walk, in the forest or not.

But I also wrote about a way that I find helps me tune out and relieve stress—the simple act of taking a walk. This year, because of the pandemic, my walks have mostly been confined to a few miles around my suburban neighborhood; I don’t think it qualifies as ‘forest bathing,’ but it still refreshes me. Seeing the pure joy of my dog to be out and about is a delight.

This too shall pass.

As I noted in that two-year-old article, “forest bathing developed as a preventative health care practice in Japan in the 1980s. It involves mindfulness and being present—taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest.” So I hope you’ll read the editorial and take the time to reflect on the few lines it includes from a wise poem by Wendell Berry, a poet and environmentalist.

I guess if I had a sentence to sum up this time, it would be: “This too shall pass.”