Two very different sorts of contemplations bring me peace.

One kind is all about little details.

Like the smell of pine needles or the crunch of twigs and pebbles under my hiking shoes.

Or the babbling sound of running water in a rocky brook.

These tidbits all connect into the bigger thing we call the world around us.

The other kind of contemplation is about shape and form.

It’s the rush of wind at the top of a mountain.

The bird-eye view of slopes textured by different kinds of trees.

These broad vistas only exist because of twigs, pebbles, pine needles, and rocky brooks.

The big and the small.

The detail and the sweep.

One makes the other possible, and real.

It is as true out on the trail as it is inside my heart.

John Terauds, CPE Intern