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Speaker 1: Ernie is by Blue Crown Conyer. For over thirty years,

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he's overlooked this forest in South Charlotte, North Carolina. Every day,

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Ernie sits in his beautiful home, overlooking the trees, the

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nearby lake, and every bit of the wildlife. Strolling through

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such an amazing piece of Mother Earth. Ernie and I

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share the same visions. It's this forest. We both look

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into the trees and study the path below. There's something

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very spiritual about this forest. We both receive an amazing

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amount of energy. I put all of my trust and

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skills as a student into what he sees and is

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willing to share with me. These aren't my words, These

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are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest, chapter number four hundred one,

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December fifth, twenty twenty three. We have spent so much

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time in this forest today, so many leaves have fallen

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from the trees that I'm relying on my own memory

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as to where the path really is. The dangerous part

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of the journey is not being able to see the

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above ground tree roots. You know, the stuff that you

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normally trip over during the summer days, but now they're

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buried beneath. These leaves don't on a face plant. So

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I sit here and I wonder about how long it's

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going to take to fully recover. The forest has always

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been vibrant in the way of tapping into your inner

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willingness to disappear from the world for several miles, because

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once you're inside the lower layers of the rolling hills,

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the Internet connection is null and void. The only way

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out is to keep moving forward. Unlike a greenway, these

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hills are extremely steep and ever so willing to steal

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your only breath, so much time just listening. The wind

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has a bright voice, while the jazz created by the

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playful birds dances inside your steps. Called the present, living

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in the moment of now. You don't have to have

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a forest in order to find your connection to mother Nature.

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You can step into a city park, or maybe even

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just take a walk on a city sidewalk, go to

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a mall, a Starbucks, get into a moment of now

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where you feel that edge of nothingness. It's not numb.

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You're not ignoring the world. You're just putting yourself in

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front of everything else. Be in your moment. Feel the

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way you want to feel and not how other people

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want you to grow. That's what's great. About being out

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here on your own is that you get to make

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the decisions. If it's a bad one, you deal with.

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If it's a good one, you celebrate it. I'm Maril.

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These aren't my words. These are the lyrics from Ernie's

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Forest