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How often do you intentionally stop for a few minutes and lose yourself in the quiet?

This week, as we sat in the shade, having lunch beside a no-named trickle slipping off the mountainside into the lake, that’s exactly what I asked a group of 4^th grade JWC students to do.  To my surprise, they sat quietly for almost 2 minutes without saying a word.  Here are some of the responses I got when I asked them to tell me one thing they noticed or felt.   A few silly answers at first like, “I could smell Emma’s Cheetos”, & “All I could hear was Dylan crunching Doritos”, but then, the answers started flowing with things like, “I noticed the sun reflecting off the water onto the leaves,” or, “I watched a bunch of little fish swimming beside the boat,” and, “I heard the waterfall.”  One kid said, “I felt the wind on my face,” while another said “peaceful.” My favorite of all was when another boy said, “Wow, this is so cool, I’ve never been surrounded by this much nature.”  The teacher told them she was going to put a picture of a waterfall up on the big screen in the cafeteria, now that she knew how to get them to be quiet for a few minutes. 😊 In the hectic pace we set for ourselves every day, hopefully you can find a moment or two to stop, relax and really notice the things around you. Sit under the shade of a tree and feel the breeze on your skin, or go wild and book a tour with us on Jocassee.  We’ll take you to some sweet spots where you can take a refreshing swim, feel the chill of a waterfall tumble over you and let it wash your stress away.  Let’s take a lesson from our little ones… get quiet, pay attention, and actually ‘Be Here Now’!  And, btw… there’s no age limit on being a Jocassee Wild Child.😉 ~Sheryl White, JLT Naturalist Guide and JWC Educator.