Good or bad connection?

I am walking in the forest, my senses opening, the sounds of my steps on the wet ground, the smell of the earth, connecting with the nature surrounding me… or? Am I? Connecting?

Lately I started to think about the words: to connect, connection…I looked up for a definition: to join, link, unite or bind; to establish communication between, to have as an accompanying feature…Hmmm…

Is that what’s happening during a forest bath? Sometimes maybe…. At least it is an attempt to (re)establish a connection. Sometimes the connection works, sometimes not.

Maybe I am not always able to receive signals from the forest, maybe I am just not in the mood or could it be that sometimes the forest does not want to speak with me? And for a connection to work, both sides must well want to make this connection. But does the forest want to connect with me? Is it just something I make up?

I do not have the answer to this question. I just know my own story: sometimes I feel like all the trees are welcoming me when entering the forest, swaying their branches in the wind and sometimes I really feel that the forest is pissed at me and stays silent. I can almost feel rejection and sadness, what did I do? I carry on walking, just being there, not giving up but not trying, just letting go, trusting, being patient. As I pass under the beech tree, the wind starts to blow again. A leave falls in my hand.