Get the latest Wild news
GET THE LATEST WILD NEWS
Wouldn’t it be cool to track the flight pattern of leaves as they fall? I often think about the particular timing of each leaf, the gust of wind or slow separation from the branch that sends it on its way. I smile as I imagine the Olympic dismount of colorful leaves—the spins and twists, and […]
The maples steal my breath
with glowing leaves the colors of fire.
Likewise the birch
golden against deep blue sky.
Walk among them now
on a crisp sunny day.
Inhale the shades of red, yellow, and orange
until, in your exhale, you could almost breathe fire
from the glory of the colors and scents of autumn.
We could be this—
such lovers of trees and […]
Everyone has rough edges right now. Soft edges have met friction until the slightest of dissonance causes hot reactions. How do you lead in times like this? When resilience is at a premium and there is a constant hum of uncertainty and exhaustion.
Man, there are no easy answers to this one. It is the predicament […]
As we pushed our canoes into the river, the instructor said to me, “You [healthcare workers] are getting us through this pandemic and now you will teach us how to grieve.” My reflection from a recent wilderness retreat for healthcare workers.
We will teach you how to grieve.
A doctor once told me that in critical care […]
My heart is full from days on the river in the presence of healers: the furred, feathered, flowing water kind, and the human kind. It began as a Wild idea, to provide a day in the natural world for healthcare workers and hospital chaplains, to offer a soft place to land as they continue […]
“Hope is the thing with feathers,”
so says Emily Dickinson.
“When despair for the world grows in me
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and
I come into the peace of wild things.”
Borrowed, of course, from Wendell Berry.
When we need propping up
after, or maybe sometimes before, we topple,
it is […]
Before tears dried or the first expelling of air we didn’t know we were holding was fully released, we are faced, yet again, with more loss of black lives. Being at the vigil for Daunte Wright the day after his death and […]
Spring Polarities
It’s the freeze at night, thaw by day cycle
of early spring that gets the sap flowing.
Freezing creates negative pressure that condenses cells in the tree.
Thawing causes positive pressure, which expands those cells.
The sugary sap of the maple thus flows up and down the tree.
Syruping is a ritual of spring for many
signaling the change of […]
I don’t know about you, but I am equal parts thankful for and exhausted by Zoom and all of the various iterations of video conferencing. A year in, many of us have become pretty adept at holding meetings, attending events, and connecting with friends and loved ones online. […]
We humans are quite a mess these days.
Ranging from blind rage to unsettled to terrified.
Maybe we’re always like this, but right now
we seem particularly public in our display.
What are we to do with this onslaught of emotions?
I ask myself that a lot these days.
How am I to hold this turmoil
in my body, my nervous system, […]
1835 Meadowview Road
Bloomington Minnesota, 55425
763-479-3954
chris@thewildinstitute.com
(The recipient of my carbon off-sets/counterpoint.)
© Copyright 2025 | The Wild Institute | Privacy Policy | Site by: OrangeBall Creative
