Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / The Medicine Of The Wild (feat. Patrick Walsh) [RHR S7, EP06]

Transcript

The Medicine Of The Wild (feat. Patrick Walsh) [RHR S7, EP06] · Random Heathen Ramblings

• 0:02
  Hello everyone, and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramblings
• 0:04
  podcast where we discuss all sorts of things Germanic
• 0:08
  Heathenry related. My name is Jesse and I am your
• 0:11
  host. Let's get into it.
• 0:36
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• 0:52
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  support that bring with them extra perks or benefits or this
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  out, just bear in mind that here soon, coming on the 1st of
• 2:09
  March, my tier structure is going to be restructured.
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• 2:17
  organized, a little bit more manageable for me as a, as a
• 2:20
  creator, as a, you know, producer of a show and the host
• 2:23
  and all these types of things. So that's coming at the 1st of
• 2:27
  March. The other thing that you all
• 2:28
  should be aware of is a couple things.
• 2:31
  I've got a book out, it's called The Heron or the Saga of the
• 2:34
  Heron that Flies to Hell. It's a very short story.
• 2:36
  It's a bit of a personal piece that I've written and spoken
• 2:39
  around various settings, whether it be a dining hall, campfire
• 2:44
  and whatnot, but it is my own personal work and it is
• 2:47
  available for purchase in digital format as well as
• 2:50
  paperback copy. So head down into the show notes
• 2:53
  or description of this podcast. However you're capturing this
• 2:55
  video and the video formats is the description for the podcast
• 2:59
  listeners. It's the show notes.
• 3:01
  Pick yourself up a copy and read it around your respective
• 3:04
  communities and let me know what you think about it.
• 3:07
  Beyond that, I do want to let you all know that I'm, I'm
• 3:11
  venturing into a bit of some sort of musical artistic
• 3:14
  representation or presentation, if you will.
• 3:18
  I am not a musician. A lot of the things that I'm
• 3:20
  doing here recently have been enhanced and helped with the use
• 3:23
  of AI technology. I know this is a touchy subject
• 3:27
  for a lot of folks, so I don't want to push people one way or
• 3:30
  the other, but there's going to be some information about what
• 3:32
  I'm talking about in the show notes and in the description.
• 3:35
  I have a quote UN quote album of 14 different tracks coming out.
• 3:39
  pre-order is now live so head down into the description or
• 3:43
  show notes to listen or read more about what I'm talking
• 3:47
  about with regards to that. The release date for that album,
• 3:51
  which is called Till the Final Twilight Dies, is going to be
• 3:57
  May 1st, which is the first day of historical dramatic, even
• 4:00
  cigar bloat. So anyway, all that's down there
• 4:03
  in the description, I don't want to bore you with all that.
• 4:05
  We've already wasted enough time in the intro things.
• 4:08
  The housekeeping stuff is just petty nonsense in comparison to
• 4:11
  what we have scheduled for you today.
• 4:13
  So without further ado, I'm very happy and honored to welcome
• 4:16
  back my brother from another mother, a Mr. from another
• 4:20
  sister, Mr. Patrick Walsh out there in St.
• 4:23
  Charles, MO Welcome back to the show, brother.
• 4:25
  How? How are you?
• 4:26
  Good to see you. Very well and great to see you
• 4:29
  as well. You know, very happy to be part
• 4:31
  of the stream and your platform and make our musings.
• 4:35
  I'm so excited for tonight's topic.
• 4:37
  Yeah, man, me too. I was so glad that you, first of
• 4:39
  all, are willing and wanting to come back and talk about things
• 4:42
  that speak to your spirit. You know that that that sit well
• 4:45
  with you and that you want to share with the world and my
• 4:47
  audience and and others as well. So it's always a pleasure.
• 4:51
  It's always an honor to have you, man.
• 4:52
  I'm glad that you're available to to talk and you look like
• 4:56
  you're ready to be bundled up tonight.
• 4:58
  You got some, you got some plans outside of your domicile tonight
• 5:01
  where you're all. Bundled up.
• 5:03
  Why yes I do. I'm actually camping out my
• 5:05
  backyard yet again. And then another dry run, if you
• 5:09
  will. Preparing for the ultimate
• 5:11
  experience, capping out in the great outdoors.
• 5:17
  A dry run, man, you, you need to start spitting on it at first a
• 5:19
  little bit or something. These days, you know some of the
• 5:23
  dry runs, man, Like, Nah, I'm just playing.
• 5:25
  Though we're getting there, we're getting there.
• 5:26
  It's winter, so you know. I hear you.
• 5:29
  You know, you got a good night for it for the listeners and
• 5:31
  viewers, right? Like we're, we're filming this
• 5:33
  tonight and it's at least here in Tennessee.
• 5:36
  You know, we, we got up to 70° today.
• 5:38
  It's middle of February already. I think out by Missouri, it's
• 5:43
  probably, maybe I don't know how.
• 5:44
  What's it like out there by you? What's what are the temps like
• 5:47
  out there for you? The highest today has been the
• 5:50
  in the 60s, not overnight. We'll be in the 40s.
• 5:53
  So it's just actually out mall for camping out because it's not
• 5:57
  get too freezing levels, not in the 30s.
• 6:00
  That's where I draw the line with camping outdoors so far.
• 6:04
  Right now, again, for another day, I'll be doing winter
• 6:08
  camping. But you know, one step at a
• 6:10
  time, baby. Subs through all.
• 6:12
  Yeah, yeah, you got, you know, it's, it's good to to kind of
• 6:15
  wade into the waters of that area a little bit.
• 6:18
  But yeah, I agree. Like the 40s, you know, mid to
• 6:23
  low 40s are like just I sleep like a baby.
• 6:26
  I just get all bundled up in there and I just I'm out.
• 6:29
  It's great. Absolutely.
• 6:32
  Yeah, Oh yeah, man. So, yeah, Speaking of being
• 6:35
  outdoors, camping, experiencing nature, that is kind of the
• 6:40
  impetus behind your appearance here tonight.
• 6:44
  We were talking as we do, right? We for those that for the, for
• 6:48
  the folks that don't know, right.
• 6:50
  If you're, if you're new to the podcast, I know there might be
• 6:52
  some, but most everybody that listens or watches this show, I
• 6:55
  think knows who you are and what you're about and, and, and our
• 6:59
  relationship and over the years, but we talk a lot, you know,
• 7:04
  and, and we stay pretty well connected.
• 7:06
  So but yeah, you reached out to me and you wanted to talk about
• 7:10
  the healing, like aspects of nature or being outdoors and how
• 7:15
  that can be a healer. So I'm, I'm really excited to
• 7:19
  get into that Patrick with you and ask you some questions and
• 7:22
  just hear your, your, you know, what you want to speak and about
• 7:26
  that. But before we get into that,
• 7:29
  there's there's always the, the, the, the opportunity that I like
• 7:32
  to give people who are new to the show to learn a bit about my
• 7:37
  guests. So I know who you are.
• 7:38
  We've obviously got a long history together.
• 7:40
  A lot of the audience probably already knows.
• 7:42
  But if you would like to just kind of give an introduction of
• 7:46
  yourself for any new listeners, just kind of bit about yourself,
• 7:50
  like, and if you and if you want to go as far back as you want
• 7:54
  to, that's OK. But really like, who are you
• 7:57
  kind of like now in this season of life?
• 7:59
  Like who is Patrick now in this in this existence now?
• 8:05
  More than happy. My name is Patrick.
• 8:09
  I'm an avid follower of High Lung, all great musicians and
• 8:13
  great music, but also a very avid hiker and new camper.
• 8:20
  I find my home away from home out in nature like many of us
• 8:26
  and that sends testimony to all walks of life.
• 8:30
  No discrimination because nature welcomes and receives all.
• 8:36
  So outside of that, I was born with a physical birth defect, as
• 8:40
  you can tell. No shock to many of you, but I
• 8:43
  was born with a birth defect, or well, birth condition if you
• 8:46
  will. And I'm the only one in my
• 8:48
  entire family tree to be Born This Way.
• 8:52
  And in a lot of ways, it's a blessing and sometimes a curse.
• 8:56
  A blessing and being born different, adapting and
• 9:00
  surviving in unique and special way that many other people
• 9:03
  don't. But that said, there's a very
• 9:06
  great community of people like myself, and the severity of my
• 9:11
  condition ranges wildly. Again, we have people born with
• 9:16
  just nubs. We have people with maybe
• 9:20
  missing one or two fingers. Again, the variety is very wide
• 9:27
  and with that said too, again being an epid hiker, it's just
• 9:32
  being on nature. Again, far fear from being from
• 9:35
  home, but also immerse myself and my element.
• 9:39
  With that said, my Zodiac size is in three layers.
• 9:45
  There's Taurus rising Taurus and then Capricorn.
• 9:51
  So as you can tell, I'm very much on Earth side.
• 9:54
  Yeah, yeah. Outside of that, I'm a admin of
• 9:59
  my own Facebook group, Hilung Mental Health support Community.
• 10:04
  Starting this journey has been most enriching and amazing.
• 10:08
  Not only to support my favorite artist, Hilung, but to come
• 10:12
  along the way a meeting and knowing amazing great people.
• 10:17
  We share this journey and supporting this great artist and
• 10:21
  in that journey we support High Lung.
• 10:24
  We also support each other. So that's my song and dance
• 10:28
  there, if you will. Hell yeah, brother.
• 10:31
  And that's what that's a, that's a that's a really key thing I'd
• 10:33
  like to to focus on with the extended sense of like the, the,
• 10:40
  the sense of an extension of family, that high lung
• 10:44
  specifically. I'm glad you mentioned it
• 10:46
  because and for those that that are listening, you know, just
• 10:49
  again, check the show notes because all the stuff that I
• 10:51
  that I talk about on the shows, if there's any place that you
• 10:54
  can learn more or find any more information about it, it's going
• 10:56
  to be posted down there. Viewers, Patreon, you already
• 10:59
  know the bit. It's in the description.
• 11:00
  But Patrick does have that Highland group on Facebook that
• 11:05
  he founded. He started it.
• 11:07
  We're going to talk a bit about that a little bit later on in
• 11:10
  the show, I think, but just check it out down there if you
• 11:13
  want to connect and, and, and see what's going on.
• 11:16
  But it does, it is a, it, it creates this, you know, the
• 11:19
  extension of family. And maybe for some a family that
• 11:23
  they never had or, or sense of family that they never had
• 11:26
  before. Maybe there was a, a broken
• 11:30
  family or, you know, a lifestyle that they grew up in that didn't
• 11:34
  give them the sense of connection like family does.
• 11:38
  And your group has created a space for a lot of people, I
• 11:41
  feel you know, to, to, to feel like they belong somewhere,
• 11:47
  right? And everybody deserves a place
• 11:51
  to feel loved, supported and welcome.
• 11:56
  No discrimination. All bulks of life.
• 11:59
  Again, the key foundation is Highland, the journey that
• 12:03
  really changed and altered my life in so many wonderful ways.
• 12:09
  It is a beautiful thing. I mean, and I'm, I'm happy to,
• 12:12
  to be first of all, a part of that too, because I've been in
• 12:15
  that group and get to see and witness the things that, you
• 12:21
  know, especially in this time of day and or this, this existence
• 12:24
  of life, right? Like people online tend to be
• 12:26
  really like there's, there's a propensity or, you know, maybe
• 12:29
  an epidemic, if you will, an illness of, of just toxicity on
• 12:35
  the Internet. And I've not really experienced
• 12:39
  that to any extent in, in your group.
• 12:41
  So that that's a testament to your ability of, of, you know,
• 12:47
  moderating, managing all those things that are required to, to
• 12:55
  hold space, you know what I mean?
• 12:57
  So. I appreciate that.
• 12:58
  I really do. Thank you for that.
• 12:59
  It means lots of me. Yeah, I mean, I'm glad that I
• 13:02
  could be there. Before we get into all of that,
• 13:06
  though, I was like I was keying in on your, you know, you
• 13:09
  talking about, you know, being an avid hiker, you know, now
• 13:13
  you're getting into camping and stuff.
• 13:14
  And one of the things that, you know, I know, as I mentioned
• 13:19
  right at the beginning, like I know where you are, you talking
• 13:21
  about, you know, Missouri in the United States, and it's kind of
• 13:24
  a Midwest state. It's in the Midwest region of
• 13:29
  the country of the United States at least.
• 13:31
  And, but I don't know, like, I don't think that the, the state
• 13:34
  of Missouri, I don't know how much that that location really
• 13:41
  like elicits the, the, the, the idea of a or solicits the idea
• 13:47
  from from people that it's like, this is where I want to go to
• 13:50
  experience wonderful landscapes, right?
• 13:54
  Missouri doesn't tend to be the first place or even one of the
• 13:57
  first few places that come to mind.
• 13:58
  So since you're a native there, right, what what do the trails
• 14:04
  and and the landscape of your area?
• 14:07
  What do? What do they mean to you
• 14:09
  personally? Personally, you know, I want to
• 14:12
  go back to the first time I visited Colorado.
• 14:17
  Now from my first visit, you know, when I came there, I'll so
• 14:24
  beside myself with joy and gratitude.
• 14:27
  I'm in a state. My home away from home outside
• 14:31
  of nature is Colorado. But the mountains mesh, see the
• 14:35
  forest, the scenery, the whole environment is enchanting.
• 14:39
  So when I first came home after that first experience, I'm like,
• 14:43
  I'll smashing A bashing Missouri.
• 14:45
  I'm like, why can't we have something so badass?
• 14:47
  But then over time, I really got to see the hen gem, the
• 14:54
  Missouri. Now you, my brother and my also
• 14:58
  fellow viewers and friends who are watching no one see my
• 15:01
  hiking journeys and now more than ever, especially after my
• 15:06
  start in pursuit of hiking, I started back in February of 2025
• 15:13
  that I really got to really get a sense of again the match see
• 15:18
  and company and beauty that is the trails of Missouri.
• 15:21
  So the trails range wildly from short and stupid long.
• 15:26
  We have hikes anywhere from like 5 miles to almost 17 miles.
• 15:34
  But again, many times I post content on my personal page and
• 15:37
  also the Highland group is sometimes people are like, are
• 15:41
  you from Colorado? Because you see my.
• 15:43
  Background. You have the shiny flake, you
• 15:45
  have the Colorado flag. It's like I couldn't help or
• 15:49
  can't fall anywhere for thinking or assuming I'm from Colorado,
• 15:52
  Southie, I'm not. But in a way, I'm very proud to
• 15:54
  be in Missouri and. Colorado's a beautiful state.
• 16:00
  I've been I've been a number of times for work related details
• 16:04
  and but I always love going there, man.
• 16:07
  Just I, I stayed quite often in a place right, right outside of
• 16:12
  Colorado Springs called Divide. And, but just going like going
• 16:18
  all over the state, you know, I mean, it's such a rugged
• 16:21
  landscape. It feels like you have to really
• 16:23
  have a strong spirit, strong heart, a hearty personality to,
• 16:31
  to be a Coloradoan. I guess that's what you would
• 16:33
  call them. Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:36
  Yeah, Yeah. So being as much of an
• 16:39
  outdoorsman as you like, because we've known each other now for
• 16:43
  what? Five years at.
• 16:46
  Six years now, something like that.
• 16:48
  Five or six years, yeah. Yeah, and I didn't, you know, we
• 16:51
  didn't at least at the time when we first met, like I didn't see
• 16:54
  you in in that, you know, exploring that, that aspect of,
• 17:00
  of things. So it seems like it's become
• 17:01
  something that has really, you know, it's not just a hobby,
• 17:07
  it's it's a personality. So when would you say like what
• 17:10
  what what do you have a time frame or do you or could you
• 17:12
  place a stamp in a moment in time that when hiking and being
• 17:16
  outdoors stopped being a hobby? Like I'm going to explore it,
• 17:20
  see what it's like? And then when did it start
• 17:22
  becoming something as a more like therapy, if you will, or
• 17:28
  that's a problem? I don't know if that's a great
• 17:30
  way of putting it, but you know, no you.
• 17:31
  You said it well, You said it well.
• 17:34
  It's funny because when I was growing up as a kid, I couldn't
• 17:38
  be indoors watching TV and my mom and dad always give me shit
• 17:44
  like, hey, Patrick, go outside, play through cousins, your
• 17:48
  friends. I never did that.
• 17:50
  But then I wasn't until high school that I dabbled with
• 17:56
  hiking. And Fast forward a little bit,
• 17:59
  if you will, my brother invited me to upgrade hiking place, the
• 18:05
  Lewis de Clark Trail. Those people, Missouri, if you
• 18:08
  know, you know. But it all started in hindsight
• 18:14
  with that experience. Again, my brother, he's my rock,
• 18:17
  he's my best friend and that hike will always be nearer to my
• 18:24
  heart. So again, we Fast forward, Fast
• 18:28
  forward a little bit, if you will.
• 18:30
  And when hiking became a lifestyle was in the start of
• 18:39
  20252024, ended in a very nasty and ugly way.
• 18:46
  And the whole time I felt lost, forgotten all sorts of nasty
• 18:52
  ways. And one feeble day in the winter
• 18:57
  like we are now, I felt the calling again to my element, to
• 19:02
  my spirit. And that's when I started
• 19:04
  hiking. So I downloaded All Trails and
• 19:07
  went to a really special place I'll be visiting very soon here.
• 19:11
  But that was Babler State Park. And that journey, I think it was
• 19:15
  February 15th or 16th. But when I did that first hike
• 19:21
  again, that journey was riddled with shenanigans.
• 19:24
  I forgot my Airpods. For those of you who hike and
• 19:27
  love listening to music, you know how important it is.
• 19:30
  So that hike, man, oh goodness gracious, I forgot.
• 19:34
  Damn, Airpods. I'm like, all right, all right,
• 19:37
  I'm too. I'm not going to drive 30
• 19:39
  minutes back to my home. Yeah.
• 19:42
  It's just too much, too much. So I'm like, all right, I busted
• 19:45
  on my phone, played music the whole time.
• 19:47
  It was crazy, but it was beautiful.
• 19:49
  And then from that point on I remained steadfast as I am today
• 19:55
  and enjoying again the beauty company match scene sport that
• 20:01
  is hiking. Yeah.
• 20:05
  So that first, that real first, I think from what it sounds
• 20:08
  like, it feels like that that that real first immersion or
• 20:12
  immersive experience for you without any sort of outside
• 20:18
  entertainment or rhythm or anything like that.
• 20:20
  Like you had to be, you were forced to you to be immersed in
• 20:24
  nature, listening to the land and everything around you,
• 20:28
  everything that was going on, right?
• 20:30
  Absolutely. And that kind of almost set the
• 20:33
  stage, maybe. It sounds.
• 20:35
  Like it kind of like set the tone, set the stage for
• 20:39
  everything thereafter, wherever it is that you went, however you
• 20:43
  experienced it, it was a it. That was the benchmark, as it
• 20:46
  were. Absolutely, without doubt.
• 20:48
  Again, I've always appreciated being out of nature because one
• 20:51
  of my fondest memories as growing up is my family and I
• 20:55
  would venture out to my grandparents house, my dad's
• 20:57
  side of the family and Meldy Lake, it's in San Missouri.
• 21:01
  If you know, you know again. But any time out there with my
• 21:04
  cousins, my family, again, it's in my bones.
• 21:09
  Being out of nature is part of me.
• 21:11
  There's no escaping that. Yeah.
• 21:15
  So, you know, a lot of people that first of all, that that
• 21:19
  know you or that know even me outside of what we're talking
• 21:23
  about, outside of the podcast, outside of content, get a little
• 21:27
  bit of sense of, of how important nature is, You know,
• 21:30
  for us. And, and I've talked with other
• 21:32
  people before about the fact that, you know, they can't, they
• 21:37
  can't really live their life. They can't be alive in their
• 21:41
  beliefs without nature and, and the the shared experience that
• 21:46
  they have with it on a day-to-day basis, even.
• 21:49
  But you know, a lot of folks have living situations,
• 21:52
  lifestyles that are not quite so immersive in nature.
• 21:56
  They have to go somewhere, they have to leave their residence,
• 22:00
  they have to, you know, get out of the city perhaps.
• 22:03
  But and you know, and some of the and and some others have a
• 22:07
  bit more integrated lifestyle with nature and their day-to-day
• 22:10
  lives. Maybe they are a bit more in a
• 22:12
  rural setting. Maybe they live outside of the
• 22:15
  city or they're close to a river like myself, right.
• 22:18
  So they're not so immersed in nature all the time, but they're
• 22:21
  closer to it than others might be.
• 22:22
  But I think we would both agree that when we step out into the
• 22:29
  the you know, those those nature elements, whether it's going out
• 22:32
  on the trail or the river or into the mountains, whatever,
• 22:35
  then something at least, you know, I would venture to say
• 22:39
  that it that it's that it's something changes.
• 22:41
  So I was going to ask you specifically, like when you are
• 22:44
  out on the trail, when you leave your house and you go to, you
• 22:48
  know, Babbler State Park or Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark
• 22:51
  Trailer, wherever it is that you go, what happens in your body
• 22:56
  and in your mind, maybe your spirit, that doesn't happen
• 22:58
  anywhere else. That is, that is a very
• 23:02
  wonderful question. Thank you so much for asking so
• 23:05
  again. Many of us, all of us live our
• 23:09
  lives. We carry a burden on our
• 23:12
  shoulders. Weighing us is whether it be
• 23:16
  familial, our jobs, relationships or what have you.
• 23:21
  When I go on to nature, I'm not escaping anything.
• 23:26
  I'm immersing myself into the element that I feel most
• 23:29
  comfortable in. But again, when I go on to
• 23:34
  nature, I notice rather gait. I want to give you a great
• 23:38
  example. One day I got out of work.
• 23:42
  It was hellish. That ship was just pure nonsense
• 23:45
  and malarkey through and through.
• 23:48
  I was very stressed out that day.
• 23:49
  Am I? I don't want to go hiking, but
• 23:51
  something inside of me besides, you need this.
• 23:55
  You need more than ever to go out into nature.
• 23:58
  And when I did, I noticed a huge shift and my demeanor, my
• 24:03
  emotions, being immersed into the trees, the deer, the
• 24:09
  rabbits, the wildlife in general.
• 24:13
  My stress lowered. I knew I was in a place without
• 24:19
  judgement. Yeah.
• 24:22
  What do you say? A lot of times I've heard you
• 24:23
  say it too blessed to stress or something like that.
• 24:26
  Too blessed to feel stressed? Absolutely yes.
• 24:29
  Yeah, you know, and a lot of people that I've talked to over
• 24:34
  the years talk about the, because we're talking about
• 24:40
  healing today, you know, and, and the aspect of, of nature and
• 24:43
  healing, but also the fact that what is, what is it?
• 24:46
  That's what is it that it's occurring when we experience
• 24:51
  these things that shift our mood or that shift our focus on
• 24:55
  things, you know, so you talk about feeling burdened or
• 24:59
  feeling stressed. And then when you step into that
• 25:01
  place, it's like a burden is lifted.
• 25:05
  I think of, you know, scientific terms, right?
• 25:09
  Endorphins when, when we when we engage in activities that
• 25:13
  release those endorphins in a good way.
• 25:16
  So a lot of people like to go to the gym, right, and work out
• 25:22
  other people. It's hiking or bicycling or
• 25:25
  running or whatever, right? Like it's, it's, it's getting up
• 25:29
  and it's moving. It's putting our bodies in
• 25:31
  motion. What we've been, you know, I
• 25:35
  guess created to do or designed like we are, we are naturally
• 25:41
  active beings. Our species, the human, speak
• 25:44
  like the human conditioner. Yeah.
• 25:48
  Inherently. Exactly right.
• 25:50
  Yeah. It's, it's it's in us to not be
• 25:52
  stagnant and just sitting around not doing anything.
• 25:55
  And so when we do, when we become more stagnant, I feel, I
• 25:58
  think that that's where a lot of the illnesses are rooted in.
• 26:04
  It's like, you know, when you look at problems that people
• 26:07
  have, illnesses, sickness, whatever, right.
• 26:10
  What's the root of it? What's the root cause of it?
• 26:13
  I would argue to say that a lot of these illnesses that that
• 26:16
  befall us are self-inflicted due to our inactivity.
• 26:19
  We're not as active as we ought to be, as we were meant to be,
• 26:23
  as we were designed to be, you know.
• 26:26
  I mean. You said it, just you just just
• 26:28
  said it. I mean, being stagnant, being
• 26:30
  still, being complacent, because sometimes with depression
• 26:34
  especially, we get used to just getting by being complacent and
• 26:41
  just getting used to it. Forget that nonsense.
• 26:46
  Forget that sometimes, again, like in my previous story, we
• 26:50
  need to push ourselves. And I want to touch on really
• 26:53
  briefly here, so the people who live far from nature, if you
• 26:58
  will, when you make that journey, you do the damn work.
• 27:03
  You make the plans. It's all the more enriching and
• 27:07
  special. In a way.
• 27:08
  I'm kind of jealous for those people because again, when you
• 27:11
  make that journey, when you do it, I'd like to believe and know
• 27:16
  when you come back and in that experience, you know you're
• 27:19
  doing something right. But again, it goes back to
• 27:22
  stagnation, being complacent. You really have to immerse
• 27:26
  yourself and really get familiar with our foundation.
• 27:32
  Nature has been there way before mankind.
• 27:37
  It how it holds no prejudice, it supports us, but also, we'll
• 27:43
  touch upon this later on, but it does very much challenge us
• 27:48
  Again, we go out to nature and not sometimes we do escape.
• 27:52
  I'll admit being fully transparent.
• 27:54
  Sometimes I'm like, I can't be in the house.
• 27:57
  Like winter hiking, for example, a lot of people like Patrick's
• 28:01
  is hiking in the snow. What the hell?
• 28:04
  I'm like, of course, yeah, I've never been too fond of winter,
• 28:07
  as you all know, but I'm with. This.
• 28:09
  Being out, No. But when you're out there
• 28:11
  moving, right? Your blood's pumping, you're the
• 28:13
  everything's circulating, you're building up that heat.
• 28:15
  It feels great to be out in that cool weather, right?
• 28:20
  Cold exposure does great waters. I don't have to tell you this,
• 28:23
  but many other people, again, just it's very challenging, but
• 28:27
  when you do it. Yeah.
• 28:29
  Because a very welcome, enriching addiction, if you
• 28:34
  will. A great pursuit.
• 28:36
  Once you do it, you never can stop.
• 28:39
  Right, man. Now, Speaking of like conditions
• 28:43
  and environments, because I think different environments
• 28:47
  produce different responses within us.
• 28:51
  Like we go somewhere, we feel a certain thing.
• 28:53
  You talked earlier about the feeling that you get going to
• 28:56
  Colorado as if it's like, this is my home, but it's not where
• 29:00
  I'm from. But you get this sense of, you
• 29:02
  know, this, this, this connection to that to that
• 29:06
  landscape. So and you've, and you've again,
• 29:09
  you've done a lot of you spent a lot of time in the woods or on
• 29:14
  the trails, but you've also shared in some experiences with
• 29:19
  me, right, where you, you know, we don't go on these great long,
• 29:23
  you know, physically demanding, you know, 10-15 mile hikes in
• 29:28
  the woods, but we go out into the river or you've been in that
• 29:31
  cold water in the mountains of Appalachia, right?
• 29:34
  So I was curious if you like, did have you noticed any
• 29:37
  different effects from different environments, whether it be the
• 29:41
  woods or the river or the mountains?
• 29:46
  Is is that something that you've felt different effects from
• 29:50
  being in those different environments?
• 29:52
  Absolutely. If I may mention farther
• 29:55
  Mountain is sharing that company with our brothers and our
• 30:00
  ourselves. Hiking and being our nature is
• 30:04
  great, but being among friends and brothers raises the bar.
• 30:09
  It really enriches and enhances the experience because we're
• 30:13
  going again outside our comfort zone.
• 30:15
  Like me as a solo hiker, it's great, but being among people
• 30:19
  you trust and love just makes it all the more special and
• 30:24
  meaningful. Yeah, I would agree too that
• 30:29
  'cause I, I, I would, I would also like you said something a
• 30:32
  second ago that really touched up, you know, using nature as an
• 30:36
  escape or finding an escape in nature.
• 30:39
  And, and why that is I'm, I'm a big like analytical guy and
• 30:43
  sometimes that's to my detriment.
• 30:45
  Like I look, I overanalyze things I look for, I look for
• 30:48
  the the the sense of things or the logic in things when there.
• 30:53
  Shouldn't be pauses if you will, yeah.
• 30:55
  But you know, and I and I blame, I would, I would, I maybe I
• 30:58
  wouldn't say blame, but I, I contribute or I attribute that
• 31:02
  to a lot of the work that I've been doing in my like my
• 31:07
  day-to-day job. You know what I mean?
• 31:08
  I have to look at things what happened?
• 31:10
  Why did this? Why was the result of, you know,
• 31:14
  analytics? But, but so like when I, when I,
• 31:18
  when I see things through that lens and I go, well, why do I
• 31:21
  feel the need to run out to the river or get onto the trail or
• 31:26
  whatever when I'm stressed out? What's why?
• 31:29
  Why is that? And I think for a lot of us, the
• 31:33
  stories might be as slightly different, but it touches on
• 31:36
  something that you mentioned before.
• 31:39
  We might feel burdened or encumbered with an emotion, with
• 31:46
  a feeling, with something that when we go out into these
• 31:49
  natural landscapes, when we go out into these environments,
• 31:52
  that burden is relieved. We, we can, we can, we can let
• 31:58
  our hair down proverbially. Like we can just be.
• 32:01
  We can be ourselves. And there's.
• 32:02
  No, but it's just. Gonna, it's just gonna, it's
• 32:05
  gonna take it, but we're also gonna get something back from
• 32:08
  it. It's like this, it's this
• 32:10
  beautiful holistic experience of healing through the method of
• 32:18
  unburdening ourselves, of releasing ourselves and then
• 32:20
  also being given something to fill that void.
• 32:22
  Because think about it, that there, there's something that's
• 32:26
  within us or or on our hearts or in our spirit that is burdening
• 32:30
  us that we go and we have to get rid of it.
• 32:33
  Well, what is going to replace that emptiness that we've
• 32:36
  created when we do that? For a lot of people, it's
• 32:40
  substances. It's bad habits, it's things
• 32:43
  that just continue to wear us down.
• 32:46
  But natured has this way of giving us space to unburden
• 32:50
  ourselves but then give us something wholesome in return.
• 32:53
  Does that is that? Does that make sense?
• 32:56
  It makes perfect sense. Yeah, I guess again, when we
• 33:00
  touch on this topic, hiking is great.
• 33:03
  Being on nature's wonderful, but also very scary.
• 33:09
  Oh dude, it sucks sometimes. Like it straight up sucks.
• 33:11
  Like I put myself in those conditions where I've like,
• 33:13
  yeah, I'm going to do this 10 mile walk or I'm going to do
• 33:15
  this, you know, 18 mile round trip hike with 30 lbs on my
• 33:19
  back. And it sounds great.
• 33:20
  And it's also like you have this anticipation or this, you know,
• 33:24
  like, oh, I wonder what's going to be like?
• 33:26
  And then when you get like halfway through it, you're like,
• 33:28
  I think I bit off more than I can chew and I don't know how
• 33:31
  I'm going to make it. And then you start looking out
• 33:32
  into these like hills or these trail heads and you're like,
• 33:37
  where could I set up camp for the night if I just can't make
• 33:40
  it to my next day? Like you start thinking along
• 33:42
  those ways like survival, not just enjoying the experience,
• 33:46
  but how am I going to fucking survive this?
• 33:49
  Because it it touches upon places of yourself that you've
• 33:52
  never really touched, right? Absolutely.
• 33:57
  I mean, not that we're talking about it.
• 34:00
  I go back to a story I've mentioned plenty of times, but
• 34:04
  before we continue, maybe I'll break a cost, if you will.
• 34:08
  Yeah, yeah. We'll take a we'll take a quick
• 34:11
  break. So for the listeners, we'll be
• 34:12
  right back. All right, we're back, folks.
• 34:18
  Took a, took a, took a brief intermission there.
• 34:21
  But yeah, man, the the whole like what nature forces you to
• 34:26
  confront what, what? What it forces you to face,
• 34:29
  right? Absolutely.
• 34:31
  The, the visceral nature we go out here to, to, to find relief
• 34:36
  or we to find comfort. And then, you know, the
• 34:39
  emptiness that, that that whole leaves when we unburden
• 34:42
  ourselves. What does nature give us back in
• 34:44
  return? But at the same time, when you
• 34:45
  do push yourself, when you go to these, these places that are
• 34:50
  physically demanding, right? It, it puts, it puts you in a
• 34:53
  different headspace. You're like, oh, wow, now I
• 34:55
  really got to, you know, a buddy of mine, like the other Patrick
• 34:58
  Gack, you know, he, he's like, you got to dig deep.
• 35:00
  You know, you got to get past the the physical discomfort and
• 35:03
  you got to dig deep. Absolutely.
• 35:07
  So we'll go back to my story here.
• 35:09
  Yeah. That one fable hike I made for
• 35:12
  one fable vuo. So here we go.
• 35:17
  I went back to a very special place of mine that is
• 35:19
  Greenfelder. This place means the world to
• 35:25
  me, and it just so happens my brother, my aunt's God brother
• 35:29
  by blood, Aaron suggested Greensfelder a while back ago.
• 35:35
  And one fateful day, I've been there a few times, but one hike,
• 35:40
  let's get into it. So one day I went back after my
• 35:45
  great experiences back in May, where I first named my
• 35:50
  pilgrimage fuel. I went back and I did the work.
• 35:55
  I had an itinerary, I have plans.
• 35:59
  Well, I use all Trails FYI, and I was on this hike.
• 36:05
  I expected to be 3 hours long, right?
• 36:08
  No big deal. It's easy peasy for me, you
• 36:11
  know? But the app crash, it failed, my
• 36:17
  GPS failed. I was up shit Creek without a
• 36:21
  paddle. Good old tech.
• 36:24
  Yeah, absolutely. Again, this was very challenging
• 36:28
  and scary, but also a humble reminder.
• 36:31
  I was going to make a slice of humble pie, if you will.
• 36:35
  So when that happened, rightly so, I was scared.
• 36:38
  I was terrified. What happened, though?
• 36:42
  I'm like trying to figure out where I was.
• 36:46
  I So what happened is I came to a point and my hike, I go back
• 36:51
  to where I came or look on the app.
• 36:54
  When I start starting to kind of work again, I'm like, you know
• 36:59
  what, I'll go left instead of right because I was trying to
• 37:04
  judge the distance. I'm like, yeah, it's going to
• 37:07
  take 1/2 an hour, right? I was an hour in.
• 37:12
  I was terrified. I almost called for help.
• 37:16
  I'm not proud to say it, but I almost called for help.
• 37:19
  I'm like, no, be calm. That's very important.
• 37:24
  When things go wrong, remember you're not holy.
• 37:29
  Sorry. God.
• 37:30
  Yeah. No, no, I just, I'm, I'm, I want
• 37:31
  to, I want you to keep track of that.
• 37:33
  But really briefly, you decided to go left instead of right.
• 37:38
  That's right, yes. You chose the left, you chose
• 37:41
  the left hand path. And then, surprise, surprise,
• 37:45
  it's a shit show and it's. A and he has exactly right,
• 37:48
  exactly right. I'm like, I could have taken the
• 37:50
  road more traveled, but I chose the road less traveled.
• 37:55
  I'm like, all right, you know what?
• 37:57
  I'm this far exactly. So again, I could have been with
• 38:01
  that the way I came and been safe.
• 38:03
  I'm like, all right, no, I'm this far.
• 38:05
  Let's finish. So I'm traveling down this path
• 38:10
  and things felt wrong again. Always honor and respect your
• 38:14
  intuition. If things feel wrong, don't
• 38:17
  ignore that because there's been many times on that hike, my gut,
• 38:22
  my heart, my spirits like Patrick, something's gone wrong.
• 38:25
  Turn back. I did, I listened.
• 38:28
  And on that hike when we come to a conclusion with the story is I
• 38:34
  saw the path, I saw a road on my right.
• 38:38
  I'm like, I'm going off trail here.
• 38:40
  And I saw this lady in a horseback with a couple other
• 38:42
  people on horses. I'm like, hey, I'm sorry, I'm
• 38:46
  lost of shit right now. How do I get back to the
• 38:49
  trailhead? Right?
• 38:51
  She goes, Oh yeah, it's like a 5 minute walk from this way.
• 38:54
  I was going that way the opposite direction and my view
• 38:59
  during this time I was losing daylight could have been really
• 39:03
  up shit Creek with without a pal.
• 39:05
  Truly, I could have had to call for help.
• 39:08
  I could have gotten emergency services involved.
• 39:11
  Thank goodness it didn't come to that.
• 39:12
  But again, a humble reminder. Nature is great, but it
• 39:19
  challenges us in all best ways. Again, it's ugly sometimes, but
• 39:24
  it serves us. For our higher.
• 39:27
  Good. Sometimes we need to get lost
• 39:29
  just to find ourselves and find our character and how far we've
• 39:33
  gotten in life. Yeah, man, that, wow, what a,
• 39:38
  what a statement. Sometimes you have to get lost
• 39:40
  to find yourself. That's a, that's a hell of a
• 39:43
  statement. I don't think people like, clip
• 39:46
  that way. Like, that's a, that's a, that's
• 39:48
  a statement that needs to be repeated and reminded because,
• 39:50
  man, I've learned more by being out on the trail in a dire
• 39:57
  straight, like having my ass handed to me basically, given
• 40:00
  that piece of humble pie, as you said, I've learned more.
• 40:05
  From those experiences that I've had, then I have on other less
• 40:11
  strenuous activities, I don't know what, what, what's that
• 40:14
  been like for you? Like the, the value of the
• 40:17
  lesson seems to be higher when the stakes are higher when, when
• 40:22
  you've got to think about survival and daylight and holy
• 40:25
  shit, I don't know where the hell I am.
• 40:27
  You know, stuff like that, Like we put you in a a place of being
• 40:31
  able to really receive the lesson.
• 40:34
  You know that that hard lesson so that that that life tends to
• 40:37
  dish out was has that has that been a similar thing for you on
• 40:41
  the trails? Oh, absolutely.
• 40:42
  Absolutely every time again, what touch on something very
• 40:45
  meaningful, going back to escaping things, you're never
• 40:49
  escaping anything. You can't.
• 40:51
  You could try and try and try and try, but those things, those
• 40:55
  conflicts, those hardships will find you.
• 41:00
  Yeah. Until you address them.
• 41:02
  And it just so happens for me in my own account.
• 41:04
  I'm sure you as well many other viewers here, thank you for
• 41:07
  watching in advance. But this again, we really get
• 41:11
  tested. We strike the iron many times
• 41:16
  only to see how far we come. And it's in times, in great
• 41:20
  hardches, we see the path laid before us.
• 41:26
  And the darker times, the light shines the brightest we see.
• 41:31
  You know what? That was horrible.
• 41:33
  That was awful. But I needed that.
• 41:35
  I need to be really aware that I have great love and appreciation
• 41:40
  for nature. But it reminds me, Patrick, you
• 41:44
  love nature. Nature loves you.
• 41:47
  But nature has always been there.
• 41:50
  Wait for us again. Right like there it you know our
• 41:54
  appreciation, our, our adoration.
• 41:57
  You know what we get out of it. That's our that's what that's a
• 42:00
  take away. It it do what it do right?
• 42:03
  The sea is always right. The river's always right.
• 42:05
  The mountain is always right. It doesn't matter what you feel
• 42:08
  like when you're out there. It just is what it is.
• 42:11
  And if you're in a place and in a moment to hear and listen and
• 42:17
  heed what it's doing and and how it is, it can be, it can, it
• 42:22
  can, it can change you, right? There's another thing that kind
• 42:26
  of in the same vein that I think of too, right?
• 42:29
  We all talk about or we all hear especially, right?
• 42:32
  This is this talk about grounding.
• 42:34
  Touch grass. You know what I mean?
• 42:36
  Great, great practice. I'm not taking away from it.
• 42:39
  But like, for you personally, Patrick, for you specifically,
• 42:43
  what does, what does grounding actually feel like to you beyond
• 42:48
  just it being like this buzzword that tends to generate
• 42:52
  conversations of connecting with nature and touching grass and it
• 42:55
  sounds all hippie dippie nice. What does grounding really
• 42:59
  actually feel like to you? To me, it feels like no, it is
• 43:05
  an awareness of what I'm going through, have been through and
• 43:10
  will go through a proper opportunity.
• 43:15
  Truly know, love and appreciate yourself because nature offers a
• 43:22
  lot of things. Again, like I mentioned before,
• 43:25
  this video is, you know, it could be easily romanticized.
• 43:32
  You see so many videos on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok.
• 43:35
  I'm going on a hike. Look at these great views.
• 43:38
  Not many people tell you the story of what it came to get to
• 43:43
  that point, and life coincides with that greatly.
• 43:47
  It's so grounding for me. It's a realization, an
• 43:51
  appreciation, an educational experience to our minds, our
• 43:58
  heart, and our spirit. It's funny you mention that,
• 44:03
  like the, the, the, the romanticized aesthetic or
• 44:08
  whatever. I've seen videos.
• 44:09
  Maybe you have to where like people will do this, this funny,
• 44:13
  like they'll clip things where it's like there's so it's like
• 44:19
  Apov type video where somebody's like what, what what a what a an
• 44:23
  outdoors content creator is doing versus what the audience
• 44:28
  sees. So it's like these uncut, like
• 44:31
  I've got to get into a position. I've got to put my camera a
• 44:33
  certain way. I've got to walk in a certain,
• 44:35
  but you have to get there to even do it.
• 44:38
  And then the segment changes or it cuts into like a very heavily
• 44:43
  filtered thing with like some sort of inspirational music in
• 44:46
  the background, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 44:48
  And it makes it feel I, I, I, I, I understand what they're trying
• 44:52
  to do when they're presenting this.
• 44:54
  And you probably do too. But for me, it almost feels like
• 44:59
  they're just presenting nature as a backdrop.
• 45:03
  I'm really happy to mention that.
• 45:05
  Forgive me for interjecting here, but again, it's very
• 45:09
  important to note, be aware of for those of you hiking or want
• 45:14
  to go hiking, taking pictures, making videos is great.
• 45:19
  But I've experienced just as well as you have to and a few
• 45:22
  others watching is when we do that, sometimes we take away
• 45:27
  from the experience. Yeah, sometimes we experience
• 45:31
  like my encounters with a deer. Oh, don't get me started.
• 45:35
  There's many times with my deer I want to record, but I won't.
• 45:40
  Just like you and the great Heron, we don't because those
• 45:44
  gifts are for us and us alone. Have you ever thought of what
• 45:53
  people might be missing when they only see nature as a nice
• 45:58
  backdrop, a nice landscape, a background photo of their
• 46:02
  Facebook or their Instagram or this that?
• 46:04
  Like what are? What are?
• 46:04
  What do you think people are missing if they only see it as
• 46:08
  that? You're missing the entire part
• 46:11
  where we've been discussing the lessons, the hardships because
• 46:15
  life is not sunshine, sunshine and gum drops.
• 46:19
  Sometimes it's downright horrible.
• 46:21
  And it's easy, so easy. I can't.
• 46:24
  I don't want. I don't want to be a hypocrite
• 46:26
  because sometimes I escape things just for the sake of it's
• 46:30
  too much to bear. But when we sit with it so that
• 46:35
  I really and surround ourselves, immerse ourselves and that
• 46:41
  element, it serves a higher good.
• 46:45
  We just have to be willing, mindful and appreciative of that
• 46:49
  journey. So again, to those people who,
• 46:52
  again, no judgment, no criticism, but to those who
• 46:56
  glorify hiking, I love that. But I like to have people be
• 47:01
  mindful of the other half of the coin, if you will.
• 47:04
  You know we have waterfall experiences when we have the My
• 47:09
  All Trolls app failed me miserably.
• 47:11
  It served a purpose. There's no such thing as a
• 47:15
  coincidence. It served what it did for me.
• 47:19
  Now did that stop it from hiking?
• 47:21
  No. Right.
• 47:25
  Yeah, dude, how many, you know how many times that I've been on
• 47:28
  a hike anywhere or I've gone out, went and done anywhere and
• 47:31
  then I'm like, I'm never doing this again.
• 47:33
  This kicked my ass so hard. I'm not doing this again.
• 47:35
  And then what do I do? I turn around and go back, do
• 47:40
  the same thing, right? It's like when I mentioned my
• 47:44
  experience with getting lost again.
• 47:45
  I've been there a few times afterwards and what I did, I
• 47:50
  developed or continued to develop again, an appreciation
• 47:55
  for the lands that I got lost. I came back and we're like, wow,
• 48:00
  a really fond awareness and relationship with the land.
• 48:05
  Again, we have relationships with our family, our friends,
• 48:09
  partners, loved ones, but we're missing out on something and
• 48:13
  that is the creatures and the lands.
• 48:15
  Because again, Greensfelder, a great example.
• 48:20
  I can't explain it more than I can right now, but it's just
• 48:24
  this feeling of home. It's feeling a loving father, if
• 48:31
  you will, but also challenging. Not this place, like funny
• 48:35
  enough too, with Greasefelder, there's certain places I feel
• 48:38
  very comfortable. And other places like Balua
• 48:41
  Trail where I got lost. I'm like kind of like, come on
• 48:45
  this trail again. No, Like I'm going to get lost.
• 48:48
  No. Oh again.
• 48:50
  The PTSD is real. Exactly right.
• 48:54
  But when you conquer that bitch, you conquer that fear.
• 48:57
  Like, hey, I'm here again. You have to really bear that
• 49:03
  spirit in mind. Remind yourself of all previous
• 49:08
  struggles that led you to this point.
• 49:11
  There's talks like me with my opiate addiction.
• 49:14
  I didn't think I could manage that.
• 49:15
  I didn't think I could conquer it, but I did.
• 49:18
  I didn't think I could come back from getting lost.
• 49:22
  I did. Here we are remaining steadfast
• 49:28
  and what moves us, helps us and challenges us.
• 49:34
  That's a beautiful awareness. First of all, I want to, I want
• 49:37
  to just highlight the fact that you correlate or connect because
• 49:44
  this is you talking, this is not me leading you into a
• 49:46
  conversation. This is you talking from your
• 49:49
  experiences. And I want to just say like, I
• 49:52
  want to congratulate you for having that cognizance and that
• 49:55
  awareness of that. You know, we, and I'm going to
• 50:00
  say we in the collective sense of people who tend to be very,
• 50:06
  they have addictive personalities, right?
• 50:10
  So at at some point in time, like a dear friend of mine who
• 50:15
  who passed away back in December, struggled with
• 50:20
  addiction his whole life, right? He found a, a better way or he
• 50:27
  found a way to kind of scratch that itch of addiction through
• 50:32
  capsaicin. So hot Peppers, right?
• 50:35
  Getting that endorphin rush through putting himself through
• 50:38
  pain by consuming Peppers rather than getting blackout drunk or
• 50:44
  getting high and almost Oding or whatever, right?
• 50:47
  We're getting into some topics, by the way, that are going to be
• 50:50
  potentially triggering. So just trigger warning when we
• 50:53
  talking about this from, about healing, recovery from these,
• 50:57
  these soul capturing these, these spirit imprisoning
• 51:03
  substances. You know what I mean?
• 51:05
  And, and, and being outdoors and being in nature, I feel and,
• 51:09
  and, and this is just my personal opinion.
• 51:11
  I feel like this is an itch that we're trying to scratch where
• 51:15
  we're putting ourselves through such intense ordeal, albeit a
• 51:20
  more healthy way, but we're still chasing that dragon.
• 51:25
  We're still going after that, that hardship in a way like
• 51:28
  we're we're we're trying to scratch that itch.
• 51:30
  So how for you, Patrick, because you know you yourself are a
• 51:36
  survivor of of opioids, you've you've talked about this, you're
• 51:39
  very open about this. This is nothing new to the
• 51:42
  audience, past or present. How has being outdoors and how
• 51:49
  did you know going into this the way you have factor into your
• 51:57
  journey through recovery? If.
• 52:01
  That's another another great question is again, going back
• 52:05
  out to nature reminds me much like the seasons, they come,
• 52:12
  they go, but they repeat. Sometimes they repeat for us to
• 52:20
  remind us that we missed something along that journey,
• 52:23
  something we may have neglected or ignored.
• 52:26
  It serves a purpose. So sometimes we repeat the same
• 52:30
  mistake because we're making the same mistakes, you know, like
• 52:34
  me, for example, going hiking without relying on all trails.
• 52:41
  I'll get lost again or succumbing to urges.
• 52:46
  Not anymore. But like opiates, if I entertain
• 52:49
  the idea of falling back into the snare, back to the square,
• 52:53
  not in the square, but like square -10 you have to be
• 52:57
  mindful and appreciative of that very fact.
• 53:00
  You know, be mindful of what got us to that point, most
• 53:06
  importantly, what got us out of that.
• 53:10
  So again, nature for me is again a top teacher, a great friend,
• 53:16
  but also a great force. Again, I want to go back to the
• 53:20
  seasons. They all serve a purpose.
• 53:23
  Like when I was growing up as a kid, I used to not care for
• 53:27
  winter at all. It wasn't until hiking and
• 53:32
  camping that I really got to see the joys of the seasons.
• 53:36
  You know, we're here in the state of winter.
• 53:40
  It's cold more or less right now, but it's just, you know,
• 53:44
  it's 50° over here in Missouri. But it's just to the true sense
• 53:49
  of seasons, though it's harshest bitter.
• 53:52
  It's scary but also winter offers many great things like
• 53:56
  Yule Christmas time with our families during those harsh
• 54:03
  times. Again, in those dark times, we
• 54:05
  see the light brighter than ever.
• 54:13
  It's a beautiful observation. Would you say that because
• 54:16
  again, I don't, I've not been diagnosed.
• 54:19
  I've not, you know, had the experience that, you know, you
• 54:24
  or others have had with substances and, and addiction.
• 54:28
  But but it feels like to me that addiction can or has the
• 54:32
  propensity or has a tendency to narrow our world.
• 54:37
  We're we're, we're, you know, looking into the, the, the
• 54:40
  again, the, the scratch, you know, to itch that, that
• 54:44
  scratch. So it kind of narrows our our
• 54:48
  perspective on things. Do you think that or or maybe
• 54:53
  like first of all, do you agree is do you think that that's
• 54:56
  absolutely. Absolutely.
• 54:57
  Dictionary narrows our OK. And narrows our options and
• 55:02
  narrows what surrounds us. So in the, in the, in that,
• 55:06
  Yeah. OK.
• 55:06
  So in that vein, how do you, how did you find hiking going out on
• 55:13
  the trails? How did you find that to help
• 55:19
  widen your view again or widen the world?
• 55:23
  Like what did it do to help open things up to where it wasn't
• 55:26
  such a constrained, narrowed view of things?
• 55:30
  True, mommy, There are greater things outside of myself.
• 55:35
  Not just people, but also the landscapes, the Earth, Midgard.
• 55:41
  There's so much going on at the world at large.
• 55:45
  And what that said too, though, we're all living in our old
• 55:49
  separate worlds, you know, work life, family life, personal
• 55:55
  lives, fun life with their hobbies and things that help us
• 56:01
  and inspire us. They're all separate worlds.
• 56:05
  Sometimes they get contaminated or blended in.
• 56:09
  So we have to segregate things. And really, again, I go into
• 56:12
  nature because I know this element for the greater part.
• 56:16
  I know that it offers something again, not to repeat myself, but
• 56:22
  not an escape, a moment, an opportunity of awareness.
• 56:29
  Yeah, I think that I think that there's AI think that there's a
• 56:32
  validity that needs to be recognized with going without to
• 56:41
  find the, the value of things to bring within.
• 56:47
  You know, because there's, there's plenty of lore, there's
• 56:49
  plenty of, of stories that that would reflect that mentality.
• 56:52
  I mean, Odin wanders, he he leaves the, the confines of
• 56:57
  Asgard and he leaves the sanctity of the homestead or,
• 57:01
  or, or, you know, the, the, the inner yard, as it were.
• 57:03
  And he goes without any, any searches for all of these
• 57:07
  things. So there's this, there's this
• 57:09
  concept of, there's this idea that to go without and to learn
• 57:12
  abroad or to, to find answers that don't exist within is
• 57:20
  necessary for growth. You're not going to grow very
• 57:23
  much, if at all, if you just stay confined in your own
• 57:28
  comfortable spaces. You have to be pushed into
• 57:31
  places of discomfort before learning can take place.
• 57:36
  It's, it's, it's life really, you know, you always have to go
• 57:41
  beyond our comfort zone, even from a childhood, you know, even
• 57:46
  from our childhood. It's, it's to learn the hard
• 57:49
  things. It's to learn the things that
• 57:50
  make us uncomfortable before we start to learn and grow and
• 57:55
  advance in ourselves. Was there ever a moment for you,
• 58:01
  Patrick, where whether it was, you know, on the trail or in any
• 58:10
  sort of natural landscape, if you could pick one, perhaps that
• 58:13
  was the moment where things kind of clicked for you like a
• 58:18
  realization, a release, a discovery.
• 58:23
  Maybe you, maybe it wasn't such a profound thing.
• 58:25
  Maybe it was just a quiet like whisper in your mind or your
• 58:28
  heart that said, aha, this is the, this is, this is where I
• 58:32
  need to be. This is what I need to do.
• 58:33
  And this is the path that I that we need to be on for, for for
• 58:37
  you. Yes, there is the first time I
• 58:41
  was a good visit Greensfelder. Again, I sacrificed my comfort.
• 58:47
  I sacrificed knowing where I'm going and being aware of what
• 58:51
  I'm endeavoring myself in. And when I did so, I'll admit
• 58:57
  with nothing but on this hike, at least support enlightenment
• 59:02
  and also putting myself in position to further appreciate
• 59:08
  love had been met again upon the suggestion for my brother, but
• 59:15
  also my spirit, my heart. That hike alone was just chapter
• 59:21
  1, if you will, with really finding myself in nature, but
• 59:27
  also finding myself as Patrick Robert Walsh, as a heathen, a
• 59:34
  man, a lover of high lung and great music, of deer, of cats.
• 59:39
  It really put things to perspective seeing myself and
• 59:44
  it's funny enough to the moth or not sometimes after a hike,
• 59:49
  sometimes I appreciate the journey even more after the
• 59:52
  fact, like looking at the pictures, like, Oh my goodness,
• 59:56
  I did that. However, that moment, oh, that's
• 59:58
  where I crossed the river. I one example on that first
• 1:00:02
  hike. Again, it was in the springtime,
• 1:00:05
  we're raining. It is very much prevalent.
• 1:00:09
  And you know, the water levels rise.
• 1:00:12
  And I came to this point, actually made this a profile
• 1:00:15
  picture many times in my Facebook page.
• 1:00:17
  But that moment is very special to me because on that hike, I'm
• 1:00:21
  like, man, I don't know if I could cross this.
• 1:00:23
  I don't know. But crosses my do I hear myself
• 1:00:27
  right now? Like, no, no, no, I got this.
• 1:00:29
  And it took me like 20 minutes to figure out the path from what
• 1:00:32
  I did. It went from here to out to
• 1:00:36
  there. I'm like, I'm doing the right
• 1:00:38
  thing. I'm doing the right thing.
• 1:00:41
  That inner dialogue that, that, you know, that voice that that
• 1:00:44
  can't like, yeah, that monologue between every part of ourselves,
• 1:00:49
  you know, where we start doubting and then we start
• 1:00:51
  kicking our own ass. We start encouraging ourselves.
• 1:00:53
  There's this back and forth kind of thing where like, I don't
• 1:00:57
  think that he was like, I know you're not talking to me, MO.
• 1:01:03
  Exactly right. It's silly, but it's so badass
• 1:01:07
  too, you know, Really. Again, the air dialogue like
• 1:01:12
  come on, this seems a little scary good.
• 1:01:17
  Good, good. Yeah, here it is.
• 1:01:18
  Yeah, it serves a purpose. You know, it's just an
• 1:01:21
  opportunity. It's not misgiving.
• 1:01:23
  It's not. It's a challenge, but it's also
• 1:01:26
  a blessing. Yeah, yeah, man, that's, you
• 1:01:31
  know, and that's, that's what, that's that's what I felt too.
• 1:01:33
  It's it's really cool to hear you talk about it really quick
• 1:01:36
  before I move on to the next thing.
• 1:01:37
  Like you're talking about this, you keep going back to the same
• 1:01:40
  place. Right.
• 1:01:42
  What? What's that place again and
• 1:01:43
  where is it? Located Green Spelder.
• 1:01:45
  Green Spelder. So I live in Saint Charles so
• 1:01:48
  the drive for me is and reaches anywhere from 35 minutes to 45
• 1:01:54
  minutes. It's southern Missouri, Eureka,
• 1:01:58
  MO, to be more specific. OK, so if people wanted to, if
• 1:02:05
  they're in the area, they hear this or they're thinking about
• 1:02:08
  exploring beyond their own comfort zones and they want to
• 1:02:11
  find somewhere that's inspiring for you and they're like, wow,
• 1:02:13
  that sounds is so inspirational. I want to go there.
• 1:02:16
  You're that's where they can go. Hit me up, just hit me up.
• 1:02:20
  Yeah, me just explain why. Please don't just say hey or hi.
• 1:02:24
  Just tell me why, but I'm more than happy to guide you to help.
• 1:02:30
  You will help myself as well. Yeah.
• 1:02:33
  And Speaking of by the way, before I move on, you've, you've
• 1:02:36
  had, I mean, you have a, you have a presence on social media
• 1:02:39
  in various ways. You, you, you've actually
• 1:02:41
  recently had a, a place that you've frequented, you've made
• 1:02:48
  these sort of primitive structures that, that, that
• 1:02:51
  somebody else. No, kind of like cut your video
• 1:02:56
  and it's like, I got this. I got to find like, is this is
• 1:02:59
  this Sasquatch? Is it just, you know, like what
• 1:03:01
  is it? But anyway, like.
• 1:03:03
  Like, you know you have this, Yeah.
• 1:03:06
  Like, without you even trying, without even knowing you've,
• 1:03:08
  you've set the stage for people to discover something that they
• 1:03:14
  may not have discovered otherwise, right?
• 1:03:19
  Creating those primitive structures in the Pine Barrens
• 1:03:22
  or the pine. That journey right there, man,
• 1:03:24
  was something really special. Yeah.
• 1:03:27
  It's truly special. I want to talk more about that.
• 1:03:32
  Do it. Yeah, let's go.
• 1:03:33
  We're we're here now. Let's talk about it.
• 1:03:36
  So again, World Forest started hiking actively.
• 1:03:41
  It's funny because I discovered this place.
• 1:03:44
  I want to go explore, and I did. So it was a Missouri hiking, a
• 1:03:49
  biking trail. So going back home, if you will.
• 1:03:53
  I made a wrong turn, if you will.
• 1:03:57
  Well, when driving, my God, where am I going?
• 1:04:01
  Oh, what's this? I see these pine trees in the
• 1:04:04
  background. Like what?
• 1:04:07
  What? What?
• 1:04:08
  All right, parking the car, Let's go.
• 1:04:12
  And I did. I'm like, Oh my goodness, this
• 1:04:16
  place. Magnificent.
• 1:04:21
  So again, I was going home like I bookmarked this, saving it.
• 1:04:26
  I went back and I really immersed myself in this special
• 1:04:30
  place. And then I went back one day.
• 1:04:35
  I felt inspired. So what I did is I walked around
• 1:04:39
  again, this is not a really a hike.
• 1:04:41
  It was like a walk. So I explored various regions
• 1:04:47
  throughout this area and I collected wood and I built a
• 1:04:50
  structure. What a journey that was right
• 1:04:54
  there. I mean, again, it didn't have
• 1:04:56
  any expectations and that's very important to note.
• 1:05:00
  We can't have expectations all the times.
• 1:05:03
  Sometimes we just have the present be my fault, the moment.
• 1:05:06
  Yeah. I really follow your gut.
• 1:05:09
  So I did, and I just kept building and building and now
• 1:05:13
  again, I wish we could share a picture in this chat of that
• 1:05:17
  structure. But again.
• 1:05:18
  Well, no, what I want to do is I want you to send me the link
• 1:05:21
  because you, again, you have a social media presence, whether
• 1:05:24
  it's Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, whatever, send me that
• 1:05:27
  stuff because people that are listening to this, that may have
• 1:05:31
  those platforms or that are watching this, head down to the
• 1:05:34
  description, head down to the show notes and you can see what
• 1:05:37
  we're talking about. I, I may not be able to put it
• 1:05:39
  up on the screen right now because that's going to kind of
• 1:05:41
  take away from this whole. Right, right, right, right.
• 1:05:42
  Of course. You have this documented and
• 1:05:46
  you've shared it, and it's been used for other content as well,
• 1:05:50
  so I want you to include that or send it to me the way I can
• 1:05:54
  include it here afterwards for people to check out, please.
• 1:05:57
  And also important to note though before I make the
• 1:06:00
  structure, I saw a similar shark group is very small.
• 1:06:06
  It was like a mini sized. Kind of thing for.
• 1:06:08
  Kids, if you will. I'm like, all right, let's go.
• 1:06:14
  Yeah, I'm like. I did it small.
• 1:06:16
  It's good thing. Yeah, you learn.
• 1:06:18
  Better. Yeah, I'll do it better.
• 1:06:20
  It just became a place for me to hang out and be present and
• 1:06:24
  appreciate it again, off top of an on topic to pine trees,
• 1:06:30
  evergreens, those trees will always have very special place
• 1:06:37
  as my favorites. And again, evergreens are just
• 1:06:40
  that present, growing and flourishing and every season
• 1:06:46
  just like us. So anyways, I just kept
• 1:06:49
  building, building, building, and it came to a point, I think
• 1:06:52
  it's like a year afterwards it got burned down, taken down
• 1:06:59
  desktop building. No, I kept doing the same damn
• 1:07:04
  thing because it meant that much to me.
• 1:07:07
  And after a while, again, like you mentioned, I saw a TikTok
• 1:07:09
  video of this gal visiting my place.
• 1:07:14
  I'm just like, wow. And also Google Photos, you
• 1:07:20
  know, I made a review up the trail and then I saw other
• 1:07:23
  people taking pic. Oh, actually on that note, well,
• 1:07:28
  the times I went to my spot, I was talking to people and then I
• 1:07:33
  learned by word of mouth that some money, I wish I knew who
• 1:07:37
  this person was, but they actually, I'm sorry, this person
• 1:07:47
  painted a picture of my structure.
• 1:07:50
  No way. They did.
• 1:07:52
  I I didn't tell you that. Oh, my God, yeah, they did.
• 1:07:55
  And I wish to help. I could find that painting, but
• 1:07:58
  somebody did that by my own creation.
• 1:08:02
  That right there, just again, I'm doing something right.
• 1:08:07
  Dude was that on TikTok or or? No, no, no, no.
• 1:08:11
  It's by word of mouth. It wasn't by.
• 1:08:14
  Yeah, yeah. That's crazy, man.
• 1:08:16
  Let's try to figure out who that person was.
• 1:08:18
  I'm sure between your audience, we can clip this, we can put
• 1:08:23
  this out here to some in some form or fashion and, and get
• 1:08:26
  some eyes or whatever on this 'cause if you, if you've been,
• 1:08:30
  if your structures have been put on Google Maps and then what
• 1:08:34
  they call it stitched, is that what you do on TikTok, you
• 1:08:38
  stitch. Stitch or two what?
• 1:08:39
  Yeah, one or two. Yeah, yeah, whatever it is,
• 1:08:41
  right. Like, I'm sure between any of it
• 1:08:44
  like it, it can, you know, it can be.
• 1:08:47
  We can figure this out. Because that's pretty badass,
• 1:08:50
  man. I got to say that's pretty
• 1:08:51
  badass. That, that something so genuine
• 1:08:53
  that you weren't looking for any attraction or attention for
• 1:08:58
  inspired people to make their own art from it, whether it's a
• 1:09:02
  painting or a piece of content, you know what I mean?
• 1:09:06
  That's that's incredible, man. Like you I have to mention.
• 1:09:09
  Really quick, I've mentioned really quick, my air pods are
• 1:09:12
  dying. I have to put my hearing aid in
• 1:09:14
  in a few months and do a little pause, if you will to get that
• 1:09:17
  situated. Sorry, sorry for that guys.
• 1:09:19
  You. Want me to put You want to pause
• 1:09:21
  now? Yeah, that'd be great.
• 1:09:23
  All right, we'll be right back. We'll be right back, Doctor
• 1:09:26
  Phil, we'll be right back. All right.
• 1:09:30
  And we're back back in live in living color, talking about the
• 1:09:35
  the inspiration that Patrick has inevitably and without is even
• 1:09:41
  trying to, you know, provide to people through these primitive
• 1:09:46
  structures. And when I say primitive, I
• 1:09:47
  mean, like I said, check, check the description and showing us
• 1:09:50
  because all that content they're for you to see.
• 1:09:53
  They're like, they're amazing and people have come across them
• 1:09:56
  and they've seen them and they've taken pictures of them
• 1:10:00
  on Google Maps. It's all it's better though.
• 1:10:02
  It's everywhere, right? I think it's better because upon
• 1:10:06
  my first creation, I noticed that people, actually, I met a
• 1:10:13
  group of people, a separate journey, if you will.
• 1:10:16
  I went back to my structure. I saw these three guys and my
• 1:10:19
  shelter. I'm walking up like, hey, what's
• 1:10:23
  up guys? Like sorry, sorry.
• 1:10:27
  I'm like, why are you sorry? They're like, did you make this
• 1:10:30
  place? My yes, I did just it grew from
• 1:10:35
  that and they actually. Did collect rent.
• 1:10:39
  Yeah, they they grew. They actually made their own
• 1:10:41
  structure right next to mine. Wow.
• 1:10:45
  So it became like a whole little village pool like I had.
• 1:10:48
  Yeah, I shrink the pictures too. But again, I'll mention this
• 1:10:52
  after the podcast, but I'll show it the all the pictures,
• 1:10:55
  neighboring structures, like just do something to just move
• 1:11:00
  me and inspire me and have inspire other people do
• 1:11:05
  something very similar. How bad is that though?
• 1:11:08
  That's great, man, you know, and that's what that's that's the
• 1:11:11
  beauty of it is when you can, you know, remain genuine and
• 1:11:16
  remain true to your feelings. And this is this kind of segues
• 1:11:21
  into a topic that I was going to that I wanted to talk about
• 1:11:24
  before. And this is like a perfect time
• 1:11:25
  to talk about it is identity and being genuine and how we live in
• 1:11:34
  ways that reflect that genuine genuineness, right?
• 1:11:39
  Because we've talked, you know, offline in the past about, you
• 1:11:47
  know, whether it's religious identity or spiritual identity.
• 1:11:50
  You know, you had you, you've, you, you had reached the point
• 1:11:53
  of feeling like I don't really fully feel like Norse paganism
• 1:11:57
  is my jam. To the extent that there's a, a,
• 1:12:01
  a cultural identity that you can assign to it.
• 1:12:03
  However, you still represent or you still have a, a stated that
• 1:12:10
  you hold a respect to the gods of, of the Nordic and and
• 1:12:15
  Germanic peoples, right as manifested in nature.
• 1:12:18
  So what I was going to ask you with respects to that is like
• 1:12:22
  what? What does that respect look like
• 1:12:25
  to you in practice, even though culturally it may not be
• 1:12:30
  something that you fully identify with?
• 1:12:35
  And that way it's reminds me of many chapters and what I have to
• 1:12:40
  call a wonderful book of life. We have many chapters, the good,
• 1:12:46
  bad, the ugly. What inspires us, ails us, what
• 1:12:50
  challenges us and what makes us so happy and proud.
• 1:12:55
  Just like Norse paganism of being raised as a Roman
• 1:12:58
  Catholic. Yeah, Now, yeah.
• 1:13:00
  I'm not going to speak on anyone's anyone else's behalf,
• 1:13:03
  but I'm damn proud of my family and my upbringing because that
• 1:13:09
  what made me who and what I am today.
• 1:13:13
  You know, there's been stages in my life where I bash my former
• 1:13:17
  faith and former practice, but that's doing myself at the
• 1:13:22
  service because again, life is journey.
• 1:13:27
  We can't ignore or throw away what it can't be and get to this
• 1:13:31
  point. It's delicious.
• 1:13:34
  It's yeah, not right. Yeah, now I've, you know, I've,
• 1:13:40
  I've, I've, I've, you know, wandered through my, my journey
• 1:13:45
  and my path in life and, and I reached that point too at some
• 1:13:50
  point. I think a lot of us have, I
• 1:13:51
  think a lot of people have where they they find something that
• 1:13:53
  really speaks to them. And then for some reason we get
• 1:13:58
  this sense of like we need to demonize or bash, like we have
• 1:14:03
  to like be mean, malicious towards the other side.
• 1:14:05
  And it's like, well, no, that's what got you to this point.
• 1:14:09
  It's it's what was woven into your threads, right woven into
• 1:14:12
  your weird, if you want to call it like this is a dramatic or
• 1:14:15
  heathen. You know, these things like you,
• 1:14:17
  you, you're familiar with the terms at least, but it's, you
• 1:14:20
  know, this is still part of the fabric of our reality.
• 1:14:23
  It, it's what has been woven into our existence and what we
• 1:14:26
  do with that going forward is not a disservice to that past.
• 1:14:33
  If anything, it's nurturing and feeding the, the threads that we
• 1:14:38
  carry forth now. So it's, it's, it's doing
• 1:14:41
  something better with it. It's it's recognizing and
• 1:14:43
  acknowledging the the pieces of that puzzle or the pieces of
• 1:14:48
  that past, the threads of that web that have constructed our
• 1:14:54
  existence now and when. We and when we do so again,
• 1:14:59
  we're not in my opinion, of course, we're not compromising
• 1:15:04
  the integrity of our path, right?
• 1:15:08
  Or enriching it. Because when we take the path of
• 1:15:12
  being mindful and appreciative, it suits us better than being
• 1:15:18
  narrow minded, one sided. And that oh, if I follow this
• 1:15:23
  path, I can't accept the other path.
• 1:15:25
  Like no, no, no, no, no. Again, what started my journey
• 1:15:29
  more or less with various religions and different paths.
• 1:15:32
  It's just that Midgard Earth is compromised, or not compromised,
• 1:15:39
  but collected of so many different walks of life.
• 1:15:45
  I refuse to believe there's this one right path because there
• 1:15:48
  isn't one right path. The right path for me is not the
• 1:15:52
  right path for other people. But so long as you follow your
• 1:15:56
  heart, respect your family, your friends, the spirits of the
• 1:16:01
  earth and the creatures that dwell upon that, I believe we
• 1:16:04
  can't go wrong. Yeah, it's this collective
• 1:16:08
  experiences, it's this collective relationship, right?
• 1:16:12
  Because I, I feel like this is a bit of a rhetorical question,
• 1:16:16
  but obviously you feel and have felt and continue to feel the
• 1:16:20
  presence of something that is whether you call it, you know,
• 1:16:28
  the gods or the land spirits or something that's just more than
• 1:16:33
  myself. It's around us.
• 1:16:37
  It's not somewhere like way out in the, you know, way out in in
• 1:16:42
  in outer space. Unattainable.
• 1:16:46
  It's all pervading. Relative space.
• 1:16:48
  Surrounds us. Yeah.
• 1:16:49
  Surround us. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:16:50
  Yeah, yeah. We can't escape it.
• 1:16:53
  We could try to, but again, you know, sometimes I do feel
• 1:16:57
  conflicted about that. Sometimes I feel like it'd be
• 1:17:00
  nice to have a proper niche or proper community or path, which
• 1:17:05
  I'm very much part of in my life.
• 1:17:07
  But again, I follow my roots myself now.
• 1:17:11
  Labels are very unnecessary sometimes because we just have
• 1:17:15
  to be ourselves, nobody else. Again, I want to go back to a
• 1:17:19
  quote. Progress isn't a race, It's set
• 1:17:25
  at our own pace. We can't compare one one person
• 1:17:30
  to another. It's not fair.
• 1:17:35
  Yeah, there's, there's, there's enough to I think for, for
• 1:17:39
  certain people that listen and watch this show that could, you
• 1:17:42
  know, bring it back to, you know, cultural identity
• 1:17:46
  definitely fuels our personal approach to, to life.
• 1:17:50
  Like how, how we decide and how we 'cause it is a decision.
• 1:17:54
  It's, it's, it is a, it is a moment in time and it is a
• 1:17:57
  moment where we go. This part of something is, is,
• 1:18:02
  is not so much an aesthetic, it's not so much it's
• 1:18:06
  interesting or whatever. It's, it's like part of my
• 1:18:08
  identity. It's unequivocally, you know,
• 1:18:12
  decisive. We, we, we can't deny that
• 1:18:15
  connection. And other times we, we may go
• 1:18:19
  through the motions and we in, in our discovery and in our
• 1:18:22
  genuine desire to connect, find different aspects of ourselves
• 1:18:28
  from our past, from our collective experience, from our
• 1:18:30
  ancestors, from all of that. And it brings us to a point.
• 1:18:34
  And then now we have a choice. We have a decision to make.
• 1:18:37
  We have a do I follow this path or do I follow right?
• 1:18:41
  It's all up to us in that moment and in those realizations,
• 1:18:47
  right? And.
• 1:18:48
  When we, whether it be follow or learn a different paths, we may
• 1:18:56
  not follow those paths, but we have a great understanding again
• 1:19:00
  of the world at large. Yeah, it informs us.
• 1:19:04
  Like some things I've learned upon my way, Like Hinduism,
• 1:19:08
  Buddhism, or sorry, Buddhism, or other different paths, I may not
• 1:19:14
  follow them, but I appreciate them.
• 1:19:17
  I love them. They offer something to people
• 1:19:20
  who need it. Now, I'm not going to condemn
• 1:19:23
  them. No, no.
• 1:19:26
  Now, again, so long as this doesn't harm anybody, themselves
• 1:19:30
  or other people, that's where I draw the line.
• 1:19:33
  If you're trying to harm people, we're done.
• 1:19:35
  You're out. Yeah, yeah, I mean, like, yeah,
• 1:19:38
  it's, I think that's, that's, that's the general consensus.
• 1:19:42
  What what, what really stands out to me though for you in in,
• 1:19:45
  in our relationship, Patrick, in, in talking over the years
• 1:19:47
  and just, you know, hearing one another's stories, right?
• 1:19:50
  Getting a chance to get on a podcast or talk about it in a
• 1:19:53
  bit more of an open forum type of thing is, you know, I
• 1:19:57
  definitely have a, a very specific, if you want to, you
• 1:20:02
  said something a second ago like niche.
• 1:20:05
  Connection, right, But it it's ancestral for me, like I'm very
• 1:20:08
  connected to my dramatic side. So it's more devotional, whereas
• 1:20:13
  other people might see things within the construct of cultural
• 1:20:19
  views, whether it's the gods or anything like that and see it
• 1:20:23
  more symbolically. So I was curious if you could
• 1:20:27
  ever if, if you could maybe like share with us a bit about
• 1:20:31
  because Norse paganism has been something that is been a part of
• 1:20:34
  your past and it's been part of your journey.
• 1:20:36
  Like how do you see figures of the Nordic gods, we'll say like
• 1:20:40
  Odin, Freya, you know, Freya, maybe even or Thor.
• 1:20:46
  Like how do you how do those figures make sense to you,
• 1:20:51
  whether it's symbolically or devotionally?
• 1:20:56
  I hope that question makes sense because.
• 1:20:58
  No it does because even though again I may not practice the
• 1:21:03
  path like other people do, it's a sense of relatability.
• 1:21:09
  Like Tor, strength, endurance, Freya, love cats, fertility,
• 1:21:19
  being a warrior. We have Odin, wise wanderer.
• 1:21:24
  Are you trying to sacrifice? Sorry, no.
• 1:21:28
  No, no, you said Freya cats and and love and everything.
• 1:21:31
  I'm like, are you trying? Is is that a is that a reference
• 1:21:33
  to pussy? No, because Freya, you know, the
• 1:21:37
  whole like if you can't lay him, if you can't slay him.
• 1:21:41
  Lay him. Yep, exactly right.
• 1:21:44
  But no, no, I was just being. No, we go go back.
• 1:21:51
  We go back to Odin. Yeah.
• 1:21:53
  His pursuit of wisdom, with wisdom, with the sacrifice of
• 1:21:59
  what we thought we knew. Again, I'm not an expert by any
• 1:22:02
  means, but that's my interpretation.
• 1:22:08
  Yeah, that that that, you know, pursuit of giving up something
• 1:22:14
  of ourselves to attain the knowledge of something else.
• 1:22:17
  It's a sacrifice. It's, it's, it's, it's a it's a
• 1:22:20
  journey of sacrifice. I'm not the same person I am now
• 1:22:24
  than I was when you and I met because I had to give up
• 1:22:27
  something to attain the other thing.
• 1:22:31
  You know what I mean? And sometimes it's a.
• 1:22:32
  Sacrifice what we thought we knew.
• 1:22:35
  Yeah, sometimes it's a sacrifice.
• 1:22:37
  Ideas. At Comfort.
• 1:22:39
  Even exactly right. Yeah.
• 1:22:42
  But it serves again, a purpose. Now again, if we choose to go
• 1:22:46
  astray or follow a different path or just be our own selves,
• 1:22:52
  there's nothing wrong with that guys.
• 1:22:55
  Be yourself, no one else. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's like
• 1:22:59
  the trail, you know, sometimes you go off the trail and you
• 1:23:02
  find other things out there and then you realize, oh shit.
• 1:23:07
  You know, it's funny to mention that too, because going back to
• 1:23:10
  the hiking at Greensfelder again, that one Pitbull hike, I
• 1:23:14
  got lost. I did, but upon that trail I
• 1:23:20
  found another trail. I showed you, but I'll the Deer
• 1:23:23
  Trail. Yeah.
• 1:23:24
  My next assignment when I go back to the Grease Feather.
• 1:23:26
  Besides, finding a next campsite to possibly go to is fulfilling
• 1:23:32
  and completing the Deer Trail 'cause you know me.
• 1:23:36
  The deer has a very special place in my practice, in my
• 1:23:39
  heart. No matter what faith I I follow
• 1:23:42
  in Tusu, in Devron, The deer, the land, my family, my friends,
• 1:23:49
  my loved ones will be a part of that path no matter what,
• 1:23:55
  because I am who I am. That never changes my
• 1:23:59
  interpretations, my insight will.
• 1:24:03
  But again, remaining step ass. And who what I am?
• 1:24:08
  Yeah. It's beautiful work that we're
• 1:24:12
  doing, man, and, and sharing in our respective journeys
• 1:24:15
  individually, but also collectively, right?
• 1:24:17
  Being able to relate so well and, and give so much back to a
• 1:24:22
  space and into an audience. Really that has given so much to
• 1:24:28
  us. And I want to touch a little bit
• 1:24:29
  about that because we, we, we mentioned earlier on the episode
• 1:24:31
  the whole focus on high lung, which means healing.
• 1:24:35
  It's a German word for healing. High lung is healing you.
• 1:24:41
  You started a, a group on Facebook that is centered around
• 1:24:45
  high lung but focused on mental health.
• 1:24:50
  So we for, for folks that you know, have have followed along.
• 1:24:55
  And then if you're new, like I'm just going to say like just head
• 1:24:59
  down to the description or, or to the show notes to find the
• 1:25:01
  high lung group that we're talking about because I don't
• 1:25:03
  want to take up time about previously talk things.
• 1:25:06
  What I want to ask you right now, Patrick, is with back to
• 1:25:10
  High Lung and, and the work that you found such a a passion
• 1:25:15
  within is being an advocate for mental health, trauma,
• 1:25:18
  addiction, and these sorts of things.
• 1:25:20
  Why do you think that high lung resonates so strongly with
• 1:25:25
  people that deal with these types of things, whether it's
• 1:25:28
  trauma, addiction, mental health struggles, etcetera.
• 1:25:33
  Why do you think that high lung resonates so so strongly with
• 1:25:36
  with people in this in this space?
• 1:25:39
  Because they don't exclude any walks of life.
• 1:25:45
  Remember we were all brothers, all people and beasts and trees
• 1:25:52
  and stone and wind. Again, it's not exclusive, it's
• 1:25:57
  inclusive. Again, upon my journey and my
• 1:26:02
  rituals, seeing them staying taught them afterwards again,
• 1:26:06
  that allows a separate podcast. But I'm just, again, they just,
• 1:26:11
  they welcome all walks of life. Yeah.
• 1:26:16
  And most importantly, they do the wrong thing.
• 1:26:20
  They don't condemn anyone. They just, again, a lot of
• 1:26:25
  people. When they see me.
• 1:26:27
  Hanging out with them or whatever.
• 1:26:31
  My original position when I first met them was like
• 1:26:34
  starstruck seeing those like idols.
• 1:26:37
  They're not idols, they're men and women just like us.
• 1:26:41
  Yeah, they're people. Making a name for themselves
• 1:26:44
  just as we are. And when I came to that point,
• 1:26:47
  it enriched that relationship and engagement with them.
• 1:26:51
  Again, I stand by how long till the day I die.
• 1:26:55
  And further from that, you know, again, I may not listen to them
• 1:27:00
  as much as I used to, but again, they'll always have a very
• 1:27:04
  special place in my heart, much like Norse paganism, if you
• 1:27:08
  will. You know, it's just, and maybe
• 1:27:11
  someday I'll go back to the path or really dive deep into high
• 1:27:17
  lung. It's just again, we can't force
• 1:27:20
  a damn thing with the go with the flow again to the seasons.
• 1:27:29
  They come, they go well. It's like the, you say seasons,
• 1:27:34
  right back to nature. Nature has its cycles.
• 1:27:39
  There are times of dormancy, there are times of growth.
• 1:27:42
  There are times of, you know, all of that, you know, So like
• 1:27:46
  it feels like with with Highland especially, you know, you've had
• 1:27:50
  more experiences than I've had in there.
• 1:27:54
  First of all, just interacting with the people, but also you've
• 1:27:58
  had more experiences. And I have personally going to
• 1:28:02
  their rituals, they call them the the live performances right
• 1:28:07
  now, whether you've gone to one or five or however many, right?
• 1:28:12
  There's people out here that go like they travel the world with
• 1:28:15
  them pretty much almost, you know, there's something primal
• 1:28:19
  and even ritualistic in in in what they do in their live
• 1:28:23
  performances. Do you feel like that their live
• 1:28:29
  performances, their rituals mirror what happens to us when
• 1:28:33
  we are alone in nature, when we, when we, when we get out into
• 1:28:36
  that and that landscape? Oh.
• 1:28:39
  Absolutely. You think it's like a like a
• 1:28:41
  recalling back to our the way things work naturally.
• 1:28:46
  Without doubt the outer shop without absolutely again we go
• 1:28:51
  back to the high lung songs, rituals.
• 1:28:54
  Some are very easygoing like Narupo and we have very high
• 1:28:59
  octane energies like can't pronounce it correctly but our
• 1:29:03
  father Hathi. Our father Hathi.
• 1:29:06
  Yeah, that, that's sort of like almost like a again.
• 1:29:08
  Yeah, and. We have the names of Odin and
• 1:29:11
  stuff. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:29:12
  Again, the emotions, the rituals range wildly, just like life,
• 1:29:21
  and that really enraptures and captures something so special.
• 1:29:25
  Again, they stand out for just that.
• 1:29:28
  It's organic and the best sense of artists and musicians, they
• 1:29:33
  just do that. They're not gonna like do any
• 1:29:39
  crazy things like. Thank you for coming out tonight
• 1:29:41
  guys. Have a good one.
• 1:29:43
  Yeah, check out our album, our merch is over there, blah blah.
• 1:29:46
  You know, it says I I love that. Among many countless things, but
• 1:29:50
  high, low, but just they're organic.
• 1:29:52
  They're real. Yeah, they may do a bow or thank
• 1:29:56
  you, that's fine. But they're not like, you know.
• 1:30:00
  Yeah, they're not. They're not.
• 1:30:01
  They're not traveling T-shirt salesman like so.
• 1:30:03
  Many. Positions and stuff are, you
• 1:30:06
  know what I mean? IR merge, download our album,
• 1:30:09
  blah blah blah. No, they're there for the
• 1:30:11
  experience. Also this gram.
• 1:30:12
  You know, hashtag, let's go. They're like no, no, no.
• 1:30:16
  Right, right. Yeah, I, you know, that's, it's
• 1:30:20
  such a, you know, if you had, if you could, if you could maybe
• 1:30:23
  like you think of high lung, it is healing.
• 1:30:27
  Like it's, it's a word that literally means healing.
• 1:30:30
  But if you were to like, if you were to like assign a
• 1:30:33
  soundtrack, what scene does, what scene plays over and over
• 1:30:40
  in your own life? When you think of high lung as
• 1:30:44
  healing, what scene plays over and over for you, a visual
• 1:30:48
  representation of healing. What what?
• 1:30:50
  What does that look like to you through your eyes?
• 1:30:52
  Kick out there the the ritual gag out there.
• 1:31:00
  That's the one. Where is that the?
• 1:31:03
  Maria and Kai are going back and forth.
• 1:31:06
  Yeah. But is is is that is that the
• 1:31:08
  one where she's like wrapped or or bound up with ropes?
• 1:31:13
  No, no, no, no, no, that was. Different one.
• 1:31:16
  Most different one. Yeah, I was.
• 1:31:20
  I was thinking of something different.
• 1:31:21
  That was a that was a very profound moment of like death,
• 1:31:24
  sacrifice, rebirth. I'm kicking myself in the butt
• 1:31:29
  right now. I'm ashamed at this point in the
• 1:31:31
  live stream but I'm I can't think of the name right?
• 1:31:33
  Now, but the one where you're talking about was Kai and Maria,
• 1:31:36
  They're they're having this back and forth exchange.
• 1:31:38
  It's it's a, it's a dialogue. I'm finding out when I was go
• 1:31:43
  see them my first time at Red Rocks back in 2021 when they
• 1:31:47
  play at that ritual and that song the speakers.
• 1:31:50
  Blew out. Oh yeah, I remember you.
• 1:31:53
  Yeah. Yep.
• 1:31:54
  And the crowd for the most part, like 99% of them of us, didn't
• 1:32:00
  give, didn't care. We just kept going, going,
• 1:32:03
  going, going, which is part of the experience.
• 1:32:07
  Yeah, man, it's so crazy. Like to think like where you
• 1:32:12
  came, like where you started from, you know, 'cause like high
• 1:32:16
  lung was the impetus. It was, it was the thing to
• 1:32:18
  start your mental health awareness group on Facebook,
• 1:32:21
  right? High lung was the center around
• 1:32:24
  mental health, mental, you know, growth and, and all that.
• 1:32:28
  So like when you did that, when, when you kind of started the the
• 1:32:35
  high lung group on Facebook centering around them, but
• 1:32:39
  focused on mental health, did you notice any like gaps between
• 1:32:44
  what you wanted to create and and what was already there?
• 1:32:49
  Like did you, do you go into it thinking like there's something
• 1:32:53
  missing out here in mental health support, mental health
• 1:32:57
  advocacy? And I want to, I want to, I want
• 1:33:01
  to not use Highland, but like go forth with the spirit of
• 1:33:08
  highland in this. Like, was there was there
• 1:33:10
  anything that you noticed like a gap that needed to be filled?
• 1:33:12
  And then that's what brought you there.
• 1:33:15
  Or not really. Well the and again another great
• 1:33:21
  question, but when I first was introduced and got into
• 1:33:27
  Highlawn, before I knew it I was missing something and that was a
• 1:33:33
  sense of community, a place to be myself and also enjoying,
• 1:33:39
  loving and appreciating the work, but just the community
• 1:33:42
  alone. It's a rich I came.
• 1:33:48
  At it, I came at it with being myself.
• 1:33:51
  Yeah. And I miss those days very much
• 1:33:52
  you know, I very much, very much miss, you know, posting on the
• 1:33:56
  daily basis and all that jazz, but life's life.
• 1:33:58
  But anyways, took me potatoes again Yeah, they again, mentally
• 1:34:04
  changed and enriched my life, but they really played a very
• 1:34:11
  significant, important role of my life.
• 1:34:14
  So they did very much fill a gap in my life.
• 1:34:16
  They brought me a sense of community, entertainment in a
• 1:34:21
  way, but also enlightenment and just so much more.
• 1:34:24
  I mean, just. How would, how do you, how do
• 1:34:30
  you like and how have you 'cause you've been doing this now for
• 1:34:33
  this ain't like, you know, the, the group hasn't been just
• 1:34:35
  something that you just came up with overnight.
• 1:34:37
  You've been doing this now for quite a number of years.
• 1:34:42
  How have you balanced being an advocate for, for, you know,
• 1:34:48
  mental health without turning your own healing into a like a
• 1:34:54
  performance? Like look at what I'm going
• 1:34:56
  through, guys. Look at look at me, how am I
• 1:34:58
  struggling? But like, how have you balanced
• 1:35:00
  out that aspect of being an advocate without turning it into
• 1:35:04
  this look at me pity party kind of show?
• 1:35:09
  It's just exactly that. It's a bouncing act.
• 1:35:12
  It's just being or trying to be rebelant, but also relatable.
• 1:35:20
  Yeah, not trying to be. I saw them five times and hung
• 1:35:24
  out them three times. Like, no, no, no, no, no.
• 1:35:27
  Because, again, many of my friends have never been to a
• 1:35:31
  ritual. Does that make me better?
• 1:35:35
  No, it doesn't. Does it make me a bigger fan?
• 1:35:39
  No, it doesn't. Those people who enjoy and love
• 1:35:45
  High Lung, again, if you haven't been to a ritual that sucks,
• 1:35:50
  I'll say that it really does. But does it make you any lesser
• 1:35:54
  of a follower, a fan, a lover? Absolutely.
• 1:35:58
  God damn not. No, no.
• 1:36:01
  So yeah, it's just, again, it's pretty much a balancing act and
• 1:36:05
  trying to keep the content relevant and meaningful.
• 1:36:10
  Again, it's very tumultuous, very, very tumultuous,
• 1:36:13
  especially in the heyday of first creating the group.
• 1:36:16
  Because again, what started the inspiration fine enough, is that
• 1:36:20
  my first time hanging out with them and I'll never forget on my
• 1:36:25
  Amtrak train home, just. I was in the afterglow.
• 1:36:30
  I'm like, Oh my God, that actually happened.
• 1:36:31
  I I spent time with them. I got to hug Maria.
• 1:36:34
  Like, what? Yeah.
• 1:36:35
  You know, like. Just you're pinching yourself.
• 1:36:37
  Am I? Am I dreaming, you know?
• 1:36:38
  And I'll never forget, well, the member is Martin mentioned like
• 1:36:44
  he was like singing my praise, like saying I was an admin up a
• 1:36:48
  room like Martin. I'm not.
• 1:36:50
  I'm really an admin, just an avid fower.
• 1:36:52
  He goes, but that's OK, That's OK.
• 1:36:54
  I'm like you say that, you say that.
• 1:36:57
  So again, on the train ride home, like, you know what, I'm
• 1:37:02
  going to become an admin. I'm going to create my own group
• 1:37:06
  because of that so much more. I'm glad you did.
• 1:37:12
  And I know a lot of people that watch this or listen to this
• 1:37:14
  show, however they're absorbing it, are going to feel the same
• 1:37:20
  sort of things, you know, like and, and, and the gratitude that
• 1:37:24
  you did it because you have, you brought, you've, you've, you've,
• 1:37:27
  you've created a space that people can feel genuine without
• 1:37:31
  judgement and real without repercussion.
• 1:37:36
  You know what I mean? It's a, it's a safe space and
• 1:37:38
  that's important. It's important for us to realize
• 1:37:41
  that we have a space that we can gather in and be real in it
• 1:37:44
  without feeling attacked, You know, 'cause that how do we
• 1:37:48
  grow? How do how do we grow into our
• 1:37:51
  greater and and and better forms and, and our most highest and
• 1:37:55
  most, you know, illuminated forms are are, you know, without
• 1:37:59
  feeling like we're, we're safe and doing so right.
• 1:38:03
  By charging ourselves. Yeah.
• 1:38:06
  Putting ourselves out there. Now, if you had to, if, if if
• 1:38:09
  you were to face someone and we're going to get close to
• 1:38:12
  wrapping things up because, you know, it's been almost two hours
• 1:38:14
  and I want to be respectful of your time.
• 1:38:15
  But like, if you had someone or, or if there is someone out here,
• 1:38:20
  why not just say because we know they probably are like people
• 1:38:23
  will hear this whether they identify themselves or not or,
• 1:38:27
  or comment on it or not. But if someone is struggling
• 1:38:32
  with mental health, but they don't feel like it's bad enough,
• 1:38:36
  quote UN quote, you know, for them to ask for help, they're
• 1:38:41
  struggling, but they don't think that it's bad enough to ask for
• 1:38:44
  help. What would you want them to
• 1:38:46
  hear? There's no such thing as bad
• 1:38:52
  enough if it's on your mind, it's making to question things.
• 1:38:59
  That alone is a seed you need to nourish.
• 1:39:04
  If things seem off, that's because they're off.
• 1:39:10
  We've become again complacent with our daily habits.
• 1:39:14
  For me, drinking, smoking, all that jazz, we need to really be
• 1:39:21
  mindful. If something feels off, that's
• 1:39:26
  because it is off. Now finding.
• 1:39:28
  These are you. In dire straits?
• 1:39:31
  No, you have to check. That.
• 1:39:34
  Be my fault and bring that awareness to your heart and
• 1:39:40
  where you go from there is your choosing.
• 1:39:42
  But again, be my fault, be present.
• 1:39:49
  Yeah, don't ignore those like tall tail signs.
• 1:39:55
  Yeah, tall tail signs. Still small voices, right?
• 1:39:59
  Again, like the hike, I was like, I was doing OK, but then
• 1:40:03
  my guts like turn around, turn around, turn around.
• 1:40:07
  I'm like, all right, all right, all right, and then.
• 1:40:09
  Go left or right. Oh, go left, Why not you?
• 1:40:13
  Know it still cracks me up the period because he's like, you
• 1:40:17
  know, because like when me growing up, like it was always
• 1:40:22
  like it when in doubt, go right, you're going to go into a circle
• 1:40:25
  anyway, But like you choosing the left hand path.
• 1:40:29
  That may be some esoteric kind of a cultist woo woo, whatever,
• 1:40:34
  but like he chose the left hand path guys, and you know, like
• 1:40:39
  what did you learn on the left hand path?
• 1:40:41
  That's part of the journey. It's it's going in those
• 1:40:44
  directions that are really pushing and challenging, right?
• 1:40:48
  Absolutely, without doubt. So as we get into like the the
• 1:40:53
  the final cuts of this of this episode, this is the part of the
• 1:40:57
  show, Patrick, where we get into like, so just some fun rapid
• 1:41:01
  fire, whatever's on your heart, whatever I ask.
• 1:41:04
  Just there's no, no real thought to it, no right or wrong answer,
• 1:41:08
  you know, So just we got a series of them just going to
• 1:41:11
  kind of run through them. So for the the time of day for
• 1:41:19
  hikes, are you a more sunrise hike right up early in the
• 1:41:23
  morning, greet the day with it, or a sunset kind of hike where
• 1:41:28
  you you wrap the day up and then finish your day with your hikes?
• 1:41:33
  What's your preference? I like to go there by 11:00 AM.
• 1:41:38
  Oh, middle of the road kind of guy, yeah.
• 1:41:39
  Yeah, it's just. Because then again, I'd like to
• 1:41:42
  have a proper breakfast and perhaps an early lunch, 'cause I
• 1:41:48
  don't know how long the high's gonna be.
• 1:41:50
  I can have an idea. But yeah, that's the answer to
• 1:41:52
  that. OK, out on the trail, are you
• 1:41:57
  more, you know, silence, listen to nature or do you like to have
• 1:42:03
  something bumping in your ears, whether it's high lung, you know
• 1:42:07
  what? What's the soundtrack of a hike
• 1:42:09
  for you? Like is it silence or?
• 1:42:12
  No, never silence. I mean.
• 1:42:14
  That there. Well, with that said, sorry, but
• 1:42:17
  there are definitely moments of silence, especially with this go
• 1:42:20
  awry or challenging or demiable and appreciate nature.
• 1:42:27
  But more often than not, my soundtrack is obviously High
• 1:42:31
  Lung, Knit Land a Turtle, Loopy, Dan Hein, and so on and so
• 1:42:37
  forth. OK, so the the Nordic folk
• 1:42:41
  adjacent type thing, it goes hand in projects and stuff.
• 1:42:44
  Yeah, Hand. In glove, hand in glove.
• 1:42:48
  What is your favorite Highland track?
• 1:42:50
  First thing that comes to your mind.
• 1:42:52
  Upper hottie how? Father?
• 1:42:54
  Haiti. Yeah, I guess.
• 1:42:55
  Thank you for pronouncing that correctly.
• 1:42:57
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:42:58
  I knew what you meant, but yeah, I got you.
• 1:43:02
  It's a good one. No Repo is is one of my
• 1:43:05
  favorites because it's the rune song, it's the rune poems, It's
• 1:43:08
  it's the gaulder of the runes, you know?
• 1:43:10
  Well, there's a reason for UP our Bahati.
• 1:43:12
  It's one of my favorite members I had not got to hang out with,
• 1:43:17
  but Alex Pozzo, this guy, the shaman.
• 1:43:20
  Yeah. Him playing that role in that
• 1:43:22
  ritual right there. I mean, I'll never forget him.
• 1:43:25
  This the main drum, but just. Into it, man.
• 1:43:30
  Yeah, they embody it so much. Right.
• 1:43:34
  Absolute badass. They'll be out.
• 1:43:35
  Continue. Elemental wise, campfires are
• 1:43:40
  cold rivers. Campfires.
• 1:43:44
  Yeah, You like to hunker down under that.
• 1:43:46
  I mean, none of us, I would say deny that that you know, the the
• 1:43:50
  the comfort of a of a warm fire is is what we.
• 1:43:54
  Would like it. That's not.
• 1:43:55
  Gravitate towards? Yeah, give me one item that you
• 1:44:00
  would never hike without. My Airpods.
• 1:44:04
  OK, yeah, I, I hate to say it, man, and my fault of course, but
• 1:44:09
  yeah. Yeah, alright.
• 1:44:12
  Now, what is the hardest trail that you've embarked on that has
• 1:44:18
  challenged you the most? Mentally, not physically.
• 1:44:23
  Where I got lost? Which one?
• 1:44:26
  The one where I got lost, I was telling you guys about it where
• 1:44:28
  I thought I was going to be completely up shit Creek without
• 1:44:32
  a paddle. And the name of that trail was
• 1:44:35
  what was again the. So what's tricky about
• 1:44:38
  Greenspelder is there's so many paths that kind of like
• 1:44:41
  intertwined sometimes. But is Greenspelder the specific
• 1:44:46
  path where I got really lost was the balloon trail.
• 1:44:50
  The donkey trail, if you will. The Donkey Trail, Balua Trail,
• 1:44:55
  Ballua Trail. I think it's a donkey.
• 1:44:57
  I'm not sure what balloon means, but yeah, the Ballua trail.
• 1:45:00
  Oh, OK. I was like, I thought you said
• 1:45:02
  balloon like not ballua. It's like.
• 1:45:04
  Ballua EALUAH or. Something.
• 1:45:09
  Oh, you like, like beulah like yeah Blua yeah, yeah ballua.
• 1:45:13
  OK, alright, well if people want to check it out, they know how
• 1:45:16
  to get in touch with you to know, like where where the hell
• 1:45:18
  we're talking about. But yeah, Beulah and donkeys.
• 1:45:21
  That sounds like a donkey name, Beulah or a cow name or
• 1:45:24
  something. The reason I said that because
• 1:45:26
  the it's yeah, because they get pictures for each trail.
• 1:45:29
  It looks like a donkey. Oh, gotcha.
• 1:45:32
  That makes sense. OK, All right.
• 1:45:35
  I got two more for you all. Right.
• 1:45:37
  If the forest could speak, what would it tell modern humans to
• 1:45:45
  shut up about? And I say if the forest could
• 1:45:51
  speak, but we know the forest speaks, so we just have to shut
• 1:45:53
  up enough to listen. But if that could speak audibly,
• 1:45:59
  what do you think the forest would tell modern humans to shut
• 1:46:02
  up about? Bickering.
• 1:46:08
  Arguing. Come visit us to find out.
• 1:46:15
  Stop bickering, stop arguing and.
• 1:46:18
  Come, come to us, be out with us.
• 1:46:26
  I like that man, I do. Come back here, shut up and
• 1:46:30
  listen. You want to complain about
• 1:46:31
  something? I'll give you something to
• 1:46:33
  complain about. Get lost.
• 1:46:34
  You know, like this. Oh, I forgot my Airbus so I.
• 1:46:38
  Forgot my water, my food. Oh, yeah, some these are getting
• 1:46:42
  real now. Like, oh, it's almost, it's
• 1:46:44
  almost sunsetting. Oh, do I have somewhere to
• 1:46:46
  sleep? Like, real problems.
• 1:46:49
  Real. Exactly right.
• 1:46:50
  Real problems without a doubt. And then the last one I've got
• 1:46:54
  for you is the one word that describes healing to you right
• 1:47:02
  now. Hiking.
• 1:47:08
  Nice. This first word.
• 1:47:11
  Just boots on the ground, get out there and just move just.
• 1:47:15
  Remain steadfast. Yeah, hell yeah, dude.
• 1:47:22
  Great answers, great, great dialogue, great, great
• 1:47:26
  conversation. Man, this has been so much fun.
• 1:47:28
  I you know, I had a great time. I think this is going to just be
• 1:47:31
  a really fun thing for for everybody that that knows you,
• 1:47:36
  that knows me and that maybe are are new to this is going to be a
• 1:47:38
  great episode to just really, I don't know, like get people
• 1:47:46
  moving. I know.
• 1:47:49
  And I'm, I'm going to reflect on this a lot too, man.
• 1:47:53
  I think camping out my backyard here soon enough after a proper
• 1:47:56
  dinner, but exactly exactly like we could be more grateful again
• 1:48:01
  my brother for the opportunity, but also you viewers supporting
• 1:48:05
  my best friend my brother. This man has come a long way
• 1:48:10
  with his path and he's grown so much.
• 1:48:15
  He was a plan for this, but here we are again.
• 1:48:18
  Thank you for supporting big art musings.
• 1:48:22
  This great friend, a great host, being a person when it came to
• 1:48:27
  visit you, brother, you never failed to give me a Taste of
• 1:48:31
  Home away from home, proper meals, great company,
• 1:48:37
  fellowship, guidance, challenges and support.
• 1:48:42
  Thank you, Jesse. And thank you back to you,
• 1:48:46
  Patrick, for for, for meeting that in kind, you know, and, and
• 1:48:50
  being a person who I can be real with and who can be real with
• 1:48:54
  me. You know, we're not, we're not,
• 1:48:56
  we're not over here jerking each other's chains.
• 1:49:01
  We can do that our own selves well enough.
• 1:49:04
  We don't need anybody else to jerk our chains.
• 1:49:06
  I can jerk my own chains just doing it long, right, You know
• 1:49:09
  what I'm saying? But yeah, guys, gals, for the
• 1:49:13
  audience that's listening to watch this far, you know, check
• 1:49:18
  out the description and show notes for Patrick's group on
• 1:49:22
  Facebook. If you're not into Facebook, you
• 1:49:24
  know, maybe you you're on Instagram or TikTok.
• 1:49:27
  All of his stuff's going to be annotated.
• 1:49:30
  Some of the key things about his content that's, that's been
• 1:49:34
  picked up or that's been stitched or do editor or
• 1:49:36
  whatever the hell it's called nowadays.
• 1:49:38
  We're gonna, we're gonna include some of that stuff in the
• 1:49:41
  podcast description showing out. So check it all out.
• 1:49:44
  And again, you've you've heard it here.
• 1:49:45
  If you've, if you're new to the podcast, then this is, this is
• 1:49:50
  what it's been like, like this is, this is real.
• 1:49:52
  We're not just out here, you know, open each other's skirts
• 1:49:56
  or jerky or pains, like none of that.
• 1:49:58
  It's it's, it's, it's real. But if you're, if you've been a
• 1:50:01
  part of the journey, you know, if you have been in Patrick's
• 1:50:04
  group and you've been following Midgard musings in the podcast
• 1:50:07
  for the last seven seasons, you know, right?
• 1:50:09
  If you know, you know, But thank you, regardless of how long
• 1:50:14
  you've been here or how less you've been here, whatever,
• 1:50:16
  thank you so much for your support.
• 1:50:17
  Please check out Patrick's stuff down wherever you can find it
• 1:50:21
  and join along. Right?
• 1:50:23
  Come along, get out there on the trail, put your boots to the
• 1:50:26
  ground, learn some things or two.
• 1:50:28
  So before I wrap things up, Patrick, I want to kind of roll
• 1:50:31
  the red carpet out for you. What are any parting words that
• 1:50:35
  you would like to give to the people before I wrap this whole
• 1:50:39
  thing up? Again, be yourself, nobody else.
• 1:50:49
  It's unfair to compare. Life is not a race.
• 1:50:58
  Progress is at our own pace. Stay frosty and shine on.
• 1:51:06
  Yeah, in the immortal words of Patrick Walsh, stay frosty and
• 1:51:11
  shine on. Absolutely.
• 1:51:14
  Love it, I love it. We heard it here.
• 1:51:16
  We heard it here 1st and you might hear it here last on the
• 1:51:18
  Random Human Ramblers podcast. Always a welcome guest and a
• 1:51:21
  brother of mine, Patrick Walsh. Thank you so much for being here
• 1:51:24
  and thank all of you who have listened to this episode and
• 1:51:28
  watched it. If you haven't joined us on
• 1:51:32
  Patreon yet, if you're just listening to this again, it's
• 1:51:34
  patreon.com/midgard Musings. It's a $1.00 pledge just to be
• 1:51:39
  able to watch these episodes and and see some of the things that
• 1:51:42
  might get shared or just the interactions.
• 1:51:44
  Because visuals is are everything you know, you get to
• 1:51:46
  see people's reactions to things and that's that's a fun that
• 1:51:50
  could be a fun thing. So check it out if you want to.
• 1:51:52
  If not, your your listenership and your support in that way is
• 1:51:55
  great. And check out the album Till the
• 1:51:58
  Final Twilight Dies, as well as my book, my Saga of the Heron
• 1:52:02
  that Flies to hell. All that stuff's going to be
• 1:52:04
  linked down below as well. So check it all out.
• 1:52:07
  And thank you again, Patrick for being my guest.
• 1:52:09
  Stick around for just a few minutes as I wrap this up.
• 1:52:12
  But for everybody else that's been here tonight or today or
• 1:52:16
  this morning or wherever it is and whenever it is that you're
• 1:52:19
  watching, thank you so much for your constant and ongoing
• 1:52:23
  support. It is greatly appreciated.
• 1:52:25
  And until we talk to each other again, may the gods continue to
• 1:52:29
  notice you and may your ancestors smile upon you.
• 1:52:33
  And I'll see you in the next one.
• 1:53:43
  None.