Enjoying the Journey

Looking up at the size of this great entity was breathtaking. From where he stood, he could not see the top of its glorious-ness. All he knew was that it went up and up and up! The rigid peaks stretching up to the sky covered in all sorts of vegetation colo[u]red green. He had never seen anything so beautiful. His ideas about mountains always contained images of rocks, steep valleys, and maybe some snow on top. He had never imagined there were mountains that were covered in plants and greens. As he reflected on it, of course there would be mountains like this. Mountains that occur closer to the equator wouldn’t be likely to have snowy seasons, but rain that would last for days and days – ergo, vegetation.

While Flindreen (pronounced flin-dreen) could understand it from a cognitive perspective, that didn’t make it any less awe-inspiring to look up at this beautiful fractal. He couldn’t see the top of this mountain because of the cloud cover near the top of the mountain. That was okay with him because he knew that the mountain and all its life was being nourished by the rain. The rainfall that this mountain must have had to accumulate over time to sustain the abundance of life that lived upon it was staggering. No matter the direction he looked as he ascended the mountain, there was green. Had he not known that he was on a mountain, he might have wondered where this ‘hill’ came from.

It continued to surprise Flindreen to see the kinds of plants that live at differing elevations. Rarely had he been up this high, so rarely had he had the opportunity to see what kinds of life lived on higher in the sky. He noticed the rain starting to fall on him and it made him smile. He was happy that he was wearing the correct gear to prevent him from being drenched to the bone. Similarly, he was quite pleased that it was raining. He knew that with the rain came intoxicating fragrances. When it rained, it caused certain flowers to open up and show their beauty to the world.

Flindreen began to look around him and almost as if on cue, he saw pink emerging in the distance. It was magnificent! The pink really ‘popped’ with the green serving as a background to it. He took a moment to take in the sight. He watched as he could literally see some of the flowers opening up. There were places where it was green and then slowly, the pink began to expand. It was a wonderful sight to take in. Then, he engaged his olfactory nerve to take in the sweet smell. This was a flower he had not had the privilege of smelling before, so he took his time. It smelled like a cross between jasmine and honeysuckle. Mmmmm.

When he got the sense to, Flindreen once again began climbing the mountainside. He didn’t have any particular destination in mind, today, he just really felt like connecting with this stunning green mountain. When he saw it in the distance, he realized that it was something that he was going to have to do. Never having seen green mountains, he knew that he was going to want to see what it looked like from the top of it. He didn’t expect ascending to the top today, but he knew that on this trip he was going to hit the top. This was why he did not have a particular destination in mind today. He was ‘enjoying the journey.’

It was something long ago that he remembered hearing a stranger tell him. After Flindreen had been bouncing around in one of the nearby streams, he was walking home and saw a man sitting on the side of the road. He wondered what it was that he was doing, so he stopped to chat with him. Flindreen was a young boy full of energy and questions, so naturally, he peppered him with an inquisition. Looking back, Flindreen was grateful that the man took the time to answer his curiosities. The man was very gentle and slow in answering some of Flindreen’s questions. It was almost as if he was being very deliberate in not giving him the full answer. Even remembering back to it now, Flindreen can think of some answers that the man gave him that were pointing in the direction of the answer, but weren’t giving Flindreen the answer. Flindreen was very grateful for this.

As Flindreen sat and look over and down the mountain he remembered this man who he met on the road. This man that taught him one of his most favo[u]rite lessons – enjoying the journey. Flindreen knew that life was just a series of journeys and if he didn’t enjoy the journeys, he wouldn’t be enjoying his life. There was no reason not to enjoy one’s life, so Flindreen, naturally, enjoyed the journey.