What Do You Notice?

I struggle between being grateful that I have a nice little wooded trail close to my home and lamenting the fact that it is the only one. And it's short. With very few hills or significant inclines. So my gratitude is often broken by the desire to have access to the hills of Northern Lower Michigan, walking the North Country Trail along rivers and up and down hills, using switchbacks, traversing ravines, often being far enough from main traffic sources that I can experience the quiet, solitude and serenity of nature.

In my ongoing attempt to be grateful for where I am, in the moment, I have made a conscious effort to notice my everyday trail as the seasons change. The picky, weedy shrubs of summer are transformed to shades of raspberry during the dead of winter.

Isn't it beautiful how nature reveals her colors throughout the seasons #naturetherapy #puremichigan #miched

A photo posted by Rachelle Wynkoop (@rachellewynkoop) on Dec 12, 2015 at 11:15am PST

This time of dormancy, often seen as cold and lifeless, reveals the beauty hidden in the lush greenness of late spring and summer, or the colorful expression of fall.


As I discover little things on a path that I have traversed for years but never noticed, like this heart stump and heart on a tree, it makes me wonder if I am also missing those subtle details in those I love.

#Imperfectheartsareperfect #remembrance ##always

A photo posted by Rachelle Wynkoop (@rachellewynkoop) on Mar 19, 2016 at 9:22am PDT

Am I noticing the details that could change my practice at work? How I spend my time? Am I choosing to focus on what I may have missed instead of lamenting that this life is too routine? My prayer tonight is that like the discoveries on the trail, I keep my eyes and heart open to noticing the subtle expressions that make the people I encounter routinely unique.