Is a Cabin the Secret to Finding Stillness?
I stumbled upon this article while looking for one I read a few months ago on Adventure Journal about what John Muir really meant by that old "outdoor adventure” adage, “The mountains are calling and I must go.” It brought the Diocese of Western North Carolina’s Valle Crucis’s hermitage cabins immediately to mind. Perhaps this reflection will stir something in you — an idea for your site, perspective for your staff and board, or space for personal
I don’t meditate. I do yoga maybe a dozen times a year. But I am increasingly understanding how to find stillness in other ways. Running. Walking miles and miles down a trail. Bouldering by myself. Driving long stretches on highways. Riding my bicycle at night. A few weeks ago, I walked out of the Port Authority bus terminal in Times Square, plugged in my headphones and started walking up 8th Avenue. In the eight blocks between 44th and 52nd streets, I furiously typed away on my phone’s notepad, careful to dodge everyone else on the sidewalk, and in those minutes, I put together the ending of an essay. In probably one of the least still places in America.
I talked to a friend about this idea the other night, and she put it best when she said, “Quiet does not equal stillness, and stillness does not equal quiet.”
