Arroe Collins Forest Stories

Mentally thinking and reacting we get lost in our own worlds. Getting to a place of peace is a difficult journey because everything's stacking up. In martial arts we were students of all things. Learning how to love all living things means you respect the soil we share with trees. Adding living plants to your lifestyle invites hope and trust. Mindfully we can all grow forward.

The outside atmosphere plays games on our mind and body. We watched a fuzzy caterpillar scamper across the forest floor. They normally don't move so quickly. The caterpillar represents transformation. Learning how to use its senses wisely. Research shows they've also got powerful intuition. While having two different antennas working their own jobs on things that are distant and far. Too bad human...

Not all of us are blessed to have a forest to roam within on a daily basis. We do have areas in our towns and cities that provide well deserved peace and forgiveness. How much of its history do you know? Is it just a place or has a relationship developed? There are many places I'd love to take my writing instrument and paper but when the heart feels it's developed a deeper relationship with the ar...

The challenge. To locate the truer reason why you return to the same place more often than any other. A city. A park. A forest or greenway. What's in that place that keeps calling you back? What is being shared with you that ultimately will reach others? Don't keep it a secret. Invite others to learn with you. To build the platform of who what where why and how. It's a connection with that energy...

Being a daily writer I'm blessed to sit inside this forest to receive the message from the presence of a universe so giving. Inside this journal called The Lyric's From Billy's forest I have four years of experience presented in word. How each entry widens the heart to this collection of trees. These are changing times. So hot that fruit are sizzling on trees in the UK. What do the other shapes of...

In August of 2022 I was diagnosed with Covid. To embrace the challenges I stepped into my forest. To be present with the lake, the trees, the creek and everything else the summer was willing to share. This forest has served as a great place of inner healing not only as a writer but through life's darkest times. Where is your solitude and or universal connection? That one area where you go to recei...

The things we plant and replant. When do they serve as an invitation? This is a story about Elephant Ears. A plant that was taken from a school that had closed and replanted in my forest in south Charlotte, NC. But I failed it. Elephant Ears need lots of sun. So I replanted it in a pot then set it on the deck 23 feet above the forest floor. They loved it. Winter came too early. I brought the Eleph...

The layers of life that exist around us go ignored because we're more focused on gripping victories more than lessons to keep. Something as simple as a forest preparing for another day of summer heat can be used as a tool in life. The daily discipline is to study the objects not only in front of you but also in the rear view mirror. There's an amazing amount of peace just inches from your one mill...

February 1, 2023 There are mushrooms popping up all over the forest floor. Research shows that it’s perfect for trees. Mushrooms are a communications connection. What they create beneath the surface of the planet is a source of lines that trees use to speak to each other. I’ve got many mushrooms because of a water break and the soil was dug into. It broke that line of communication. It makes me th...

My hands are scarred by gashes that I can never explain. I told my followers on Facebook that it's a boy thing. Can we say that today? A boy thing. We've evolved into a generation where having an identity doesn't play by the rules of all out openness. Instead of a boy thing I should call it an all people thing. But can I say people? Yes we live on earth but there could be groups that don't identif...

The forest is about to get pummeled by a lengthy summer thunder maker. The roar in the sky. Nature is constantly changing. I'm reminded of the woman of homelessness. I asked her how she stays dry. Her reaction was "I keep walking. I know my steps will lead me back to the shelter." More than ever we are a lost generation with a roof and four walls to protect us from the rain and wind. I don't know...

A forested floor speaks every language. It's not choosey as to who shall receive messages that it's been holding for five hundred years or more. How dare I think I'm the only one listening!

Discovering surface water on the forest floor proved to be an opener of the heart. It took me deeper into the soil to learn more about mushrooms and their importance to the survival of a tree. The act as conductors of communication. Which made me think about human nature. What connect our inner core to others? The digital world is outside. Within our personal energies what keeps us connected? How...

If you could hear the forest right now. An intense feeling of calm. Birds of many. A cool summer breeze. It invites the leaves on the trees to not only dance but to provide a rhythm for each and every bird sharing their beautiful vocals. Slowly I make my way toward the turtle laying eggs within the forest floor. Speaking softly and with true love, my calling is to do nothing more than just listen....

This forest will soon be trapped in a summer heatwave. Looking at the limbs and leaves on the trees they don't appear to be stressed but rather at peace. The Red Tail hawk is darting across it's wide open sky of a playground. The Sterling's continue to search for seeds while the squirrel's find focus on dancing from tree to tree. They've been taught to watch each other. To warn of possible trouble...

To be a tree. To feel an early summer breeze. To embrace the waters left by last nights storms. To be protection from the sun while pulling in so much energy to feed tree growth. That's how nature speaks to and through us. What sounds are we sharing back? Learning to listen to everything around us teaches the soul to be a better student.

So much wildlife surrounds us here at Andrew Jackson State Park. This comes less than 12 hours from standing under the giant sky at one in the morning to fall witness to comet remnants falling freely to earth. Being in places of natural connection. Locating the space to slow things down. To appreciate the length of time required to heal a body injury. That time in slow motion tends to paint pretti...

A hawk has been living in my forest for nearly two years. A playful hawk in the way of making himself quite visibly and with great sound. The lessons we learn from the animal kingdom. Teaching ourselves to trust what nature shares.

While walking through the forest I took note of the tree limbs drooping. Research shows that this is a sign of tree stress. As a human you want to do all you can to help relieve the pain from the tree. Arborists say to put tree bark and or mulch at the base. To give it nutrients. Having a relationship with a forest means communication. The type that most prefer to tune out. Until their personal li...

You are what the atmosphere around you is. When you want to truly change it involves building a stronger relationship with the atmosphere so that you know how your decisions will disrupt it.

In your place of now... What did you parents plant in your heart that's being used as fruit today? My mother and father never spoke openly about their connection with the soil but they knew how to plant and maintain fields of veggies and gardens blessed with flowers and scent. I always believed they planted love in the soil. A great writing adventure for you would be to listen to your heart. Get b...

Feeling a slight breeze. The way it touches you. The way we embrace it. It's as if the breeze, the slow paced stream, tall wild grasses and trees are constantly communicating with us. And look at the way we treat the relationship. I'm pretty sure nature isn't as judgmental.

The answers are always one moment of awareness away. Learning to trust it by way of accepting controlled chaos is a step that's going to invite change. But we don't like that sort of behavior. The elements around you are brilliant tools to use not only today but in years that have long forgotten about this moment. Accept yourself each new sun.

The temperature of the atmosphere plays a huge role in the way we think, activate and recover. Weather patterns these days are just as confused at the mental patterns of the human. Learning how to locate meaning can be just as cold as a winter's morning. The body gets used to a certain level of heat then from out of nowhere you wake up and the entire day is based on the temperature of the atmosphe...

Those moments when you feel like too much going on is too heavy to carry. Breaking free. Taking what I call a transition walk. Your forest might be a city park or for that matter a downtown area blessed with cars and crowds. It's puts you in a place where you can release. To allow the elements of the universe to spend a few moments readjusting the junk clinging to your heart.