Yesterday I started writing about gratitude andΒ said I would post one thing I’m grateful for a day a week.Β 

Today I will focus on something a bit bigger than my cat. Something that is around us daily, but that we perhaps don’t see too much or appreciate enough. I know I haven’t appreciated it enough lately, and it saddens me.Β 

The woods have always been important to me. It has meant freedom, a playground, a blank slate where I could imagine new lands and epic adventures. They have been a sanctuary for me when I have been feeling bad for several reasons, and it’s been a place I have retreated to when I have needed to get away from the world for some time.Β 

The air and the noises are different in the woods. The smells and the feeling of the soft ground upon endless of miles of roots is something that fills me with a feeling of not being so big and important. I’m suddenly just a very small human walking in a vastness bigger and older than anything I know. The woods we have here in Norway are the westernmost part of the world’s biggest forest biome: the Taiga. It stretches almost the entire northern hemisphere from North America, through northern parts of Asia and ends here in Europe. It’s astonishing to be a part of, and live in an area that is so big and ancient – and alive.Β 

To the forests and woods: Thank you. I appreciate you.Β