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Speaker 1: Creativity is an addiction, unplugged because we will always say

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yes to creativity, totally uncut because we all make mistakes.

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So let's turn it into a tool. This is arrow unplugged.

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I am a poet, one that just happens to write

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in a forest. In twenty fifteen, I stepped into a

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very special collection of trees at the Billygraham Library right

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here in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there I did nothing

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but write. But they were never my words. They were

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the lyrics from Billy's Forest. Nearly two years later, God

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spoke directly into my heart. He said, dude, it's time

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to grow beyond the library, to write in other collections

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of trees, mainly your own forest in South Charlotte, North Carolina.

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You see in every place that I write, I always

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believe one thing. They are not my words. These are

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the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter number three hundred fifty two.

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January twenty first, twenty twenty three. Is it okay to

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listen to music while walking through a forest? Is it

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is natural as the bird's whistle or a rabbit scampering?

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There have been a lot of social media posts written

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about how wrong it is to bring music. Hikers and

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those wanting natural solitude are denying their mind, body, and

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soul from the presence of everything that is natural, and

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it's singing to you inside any type of forest that

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comes from Smithsonian Magazine, the rustling of leaves, crunching things

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beneath your feet, and eclectic mix of bird songs. But

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that hasn't stopped Pete m Weir from creating I forest

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as he immerses himself into several different sounds and experiences.

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Iforest dot Org not only brings the beauty of the

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forest outward, but the angelic voices that he's invited into

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his sights and sounds. They're amazingly spiritual. I love the

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term that he uses. It's in one of his songs,

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the sky beneath our feet. While some say it's wrong

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to bring your earbuds and Spotify playlist into a forest,

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Pete shares his interpretation of his personal experiences. Whereas I,

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being a transition walker, I need to listen to the

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wind carrying the stories. What is your personal view and

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direction when you take that walk, because walking really is

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one of the greatest calming moments of your choices made

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on a daily basis. My dog Jazzy and I go

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through this forest in South Charlotte every day. We've been

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here a billion times because I've been here since nineteen

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ninety two and it's twenty twenty three. Does it ever

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change every day? There's always something different in this forest.

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And it helps me understand as a human being that

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if this forest is changing every day, as am I

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and learning to accept the seasonal changes, maybe me my

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seasons could be every other day, whereas this forest goes

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through it four times a year, maybe more if you

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pay closer attention. But is it wrong to take a

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digital device with you? I feel extremely guilty when I

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record a podcast that's called Vocal Defrag. When I'm walking

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through the forest, I am physically receiving everything that's in

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that moment of now, and it's become a podcast because

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all of these things that are really just shoving itself

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through me on these daily walks when I'm not recording,

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I lose them. By the time I get home, I

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have forgotten them. I don't know what I was thinking

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about yet in that moment of receiving it was very

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very much like what Pete says, the sky beneath our

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feet if you live in a large city, if you

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live on a farm land, wherever you place your seeds

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and wherever you put your feet, one of the things

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that you should do at least three to four times

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a week is to take that walk. I learned how

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to take those walks not because I'm from the state

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of Montana, but because when I would go for those

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walks as a young child, music came into me, and

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I was the crazy child that believed that, Oh my god,

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I guess I'm the one that's been chosen to do this,

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only to learn that everybody receives music, everybody is creative,

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everybody is welcome to the celebration of receiving. Think of

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yourself as being that next step to somebody else's beautiful discovery.

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Because once you have received art, a message, even the

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idea of bringing peace to your own personal life, You're

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going to wear it and probably wear it well, and

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that's going to change others around you. I'm erl These

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are not my words. These are the lyrics from Billy's

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Forest