My hiking boots sink down in the wet, muddy ground as I walk past the old tree and back into the forest. It feels different in the rain. Gloomier, but also more serene. Before I turn around and go home, I stop and listen to a small stream from a freshwater spring trickle through the trees. My feet are damp, but my mind is still. Silently embraced by the forest, I am alert, contented, calm. This, I think to myself, is what it feels like to be truly alive.
