step by step

Carissa summoned her courage and tentatively set out on her lonely trek. Her anxiety about self-indulgence caused some of her hesitation. She was not on a noble quest to help others. Perhaps her motivation was wanderlust. It could also be self-healing that could possibly be of some benefit to others. That aspect was too hard to calculate. Perhaps becoming acquainted with a new landscape did good to that landscape itself. And what of one's own interior, mysterious landscape?

So she set out with the lizards, butterflies and deer, among the rocks, trees, brambles, sky, and air. Novelty greeted her at every turn. The promise of water whispered and shimmered now and again.

Eventually Carissa found her second wind and felt the hike take her over into quick, rhythmic, propelled marching to deliciously spontaneous repetition, as if from a second voice inside her head. "Lord have mer cy, Lord have mer cy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. She loved how it drowned out all of her thoughts and concerns.