Opening my eyes to my surroundings also opens me to the possibility of hope and insight. My favorite surroundings are woods, in any season. I go there daily, even if it is a fleeting visit in my imagination.

The late poet Mary Oliver wrote a poem about eyes being opened to hope and comfort – “When I am Among Trees” – in summertime, but it resonates for me in midwinter, too:

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

– John Terauds, CPE Intern