Yesterday, 19 May 2025, I went on a 10km hike at the Hennops River trail. It was my second solo hike in that area. The first was on 12 August 2024 — a different man, a different season. That day I was carrying a heavy heart. I had just had a real conflict with my ex-wife, and looking back now, that weekend was a turning point. A quiet moment before the storm that led to my current reality.
I don’t remember the details of my thoughts that day, but I remember the river. The water was dark — black and grey — as if it had swallowed chemicals. It mirrored how I felt inside. That hike was not light. It was heavy.
But yesterday was different.
The water looked better. Not perfect, but cleaner. I’d like to think a few fish could survive in it now. My body felt lighter. My mind, clearer. I gave myself time to sit in the sun and meditate. I even took a few videos — moments of walking, breathing, being.
Capturing those moments still feels strange. It pulls me out of the present, and into the future, where I imagine myself watching the moment rather than living it. But I feel called to share this light. Not because I want to show off, but because there is a shortage of honest, slow, quiet content online. Especially for those of us trying to walk this earth gently.
The hike was slow, on purpose. The winter sun was soft. I reflected. I got lost in thoughts. Nature reminded me how small I am in the face of reality. I’m still lost in this universe. I have no real sense of where I’m going or what I’m doing. It’s scary. It’s exciting. It’s frustrating.
I am a doer. When I rest, I feel guilt. When I want to act, I often lack the focus. Ideas arrive during hikes, but I’ve learned not to chase them immediately. They need space to breathe. Tolle was right: space between thoughts is sacred. Revisiting those ideas later is difficult though. Our minds crave novelty.
Right now, it feels like I’m not making progress. But I know that’s a feeling, not a fact. When I look back at the evidence — the pictures, the hikes, the changes in my body and mind — I see the progress. But we live in a world that praises financial progress. And mine doesn’t show up there, yet.
Still, I’m aware that when the bank balance grows, I might long for days like this — a solo hike on a Monday morning. Because that’s the human way. We want what we don’t have. And when we finally have it, we want something else.
So I walk. And I write. And I share.
This is me. This is the foreign, familiar me.
#WalkingInTheLight
#BraPeter
#DankieSun
Bosso! I’d like to acknowledge your bravery as an AFRICAN MALE MAN. The strength to walk your path and share it, openly. The trials, tribulations, progress and victories. As a recluse person, I relate, I find myself bemoaning the western-way-of-life trap. Ingrained and nurtured into us from a young age and we rinse and repeat into adulthood then pass it on to our children. To paraphrase a quote I once read : The West never brought civilization to the mother land – they killed and distorted African civilization” . We were once one with the earth but are now disconnect from it ele ruri!
All the very best on the journey of “living it” – that which is life, your way, with the other souls in your life and are around you!
Thank you Cooper. We all have a role to play on this earth. We exist in our own little universes we call “our reality” while being part of a greater whole. I am just openly sharing my universe(reality) with anyone who happens to exist, in that small universe. Thank you for picking up this message. we are here to share. “Each one-teach one, vibes”. ….But first, we need to pay attention to each other, as humans. The African mind is quickly getting lost into the western owned but AI managed, digital screen.