A Way to Heal the Soul

What are your survival techniques in this world of sad and tragic events? Here is one of the possible ways to find joy and find the motivation to move forward.

Sep 03, 2024

Today, I would like to tell you about a way to heal the soul. In recent years, life has given us too many sorrows. Maybe that's how things work, and we are the ones who don't want to accept the evidence. I have always thought that parents and school should teach us the art of resisting the “storms” of life.

In any case, since it is not like that, everyone tries to find their way. Not always intelligent, it’s true, but what can you do with it…

Sponsored content:

Amazon Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma

Healing With Nature - all the books

Years ago, I noticed that when I am in a forest or even in nature generally, and trying to “connect” myself with it (something similar to prayer or meditation), I change my mood and begin to accept life better. Sometimes (in my case these are conifers or lake and seawater) I feel like they support me.

Of course, I have not studied psychology in depth and, honestly, I would not like to have scientific explanations for this phenomenon. I do not want to pretend to have discovered something supernatural. The important thing is that being in nature and trying to connect with it helps to overcome some states of mind that disturb life.

It’s just enough for me to know about it and to exploit it to my advantage.

This time I had the feeling that I needed a good walk in nature.

I have long wanted to visit Rimella, a country inhabited by Germans, Walser, who came in Italy from neighboring Switzerland in the 12th century. I learned about this little village a year ago when I visited the Walser gathering in Ornavasso.

You can read my other article: Guardian of the Gorge: The Devil's Bridge and Its Eerie Legends

This time I had the feeling that I required a good walk in nature and decided to go there because the weather forecast was not good: it was said that this was the last sunny day and then rain was expected for a week or two. So, if I wanted to go for a walk, I had to do it today.

Rimella is composed of 5–6 parts that are located at different heights and are connected by an ancient path. Interestingly, I liked it very much, that before the path ends in another hamlet, there is a kind of gate: two trees or, in another case, a cross.

Sponsored content:

Thank you to this week’s sponsor for keeping this letter free for everyone

Amazon trekking gear

More often than in other places, there are chapels on the trail. I think they also built them to mark the trail: if you pass by, for example in winter or when the weather is bad, you can understand where you are when you see the chapel.

In other valleys, in Alagna, for example, the Walser houses are built a little differently. The lady at the museum said that this difference is probably due to the much rainier climate of this valley.

All the Walser used balconies around the floors of their houses to dry hay, and here they were covered from the rain, unlike the grates we find in other valleys.

This is a house in Walser style in Alagna

I was lucky that the museum was open. The lady in the museum told me many interesting things. What surprised me most about this population is that they remained to live in a place, in my opinion, more inaccessible than all the others. I don't understand how those 60 people who are there now live, but they have cars and in half an hour can arrive in Varallo. But live in a totally isolated place… without a car… I don’t understand.

Sponsored content:

Amazon Music Tony Verga & Ivana “A Rimella”

Some more photos to illustrate the walk

I only walked 7 kilometers this time. I have to say that I noticed another detail. My ankles are particularly painful because once there were fractures, and unfortunately, this problem frequently prevents me from moving. I always have anklets when I go out, pills in my bags, backpacks. But during my walks, even if I make efforts to go up/down, it is very rare that I have to use them.

Sponsored content:

Amazon FOREIGNERS TRAVEL GUIDE TO NORTHERN ITALY