Lessons Through Joy!
Chapter 4
Authored by Emy Minzel
After our first portage we felt invigorated, and proud of ourselves. Something as simple as crossing an unknown path and coming out to a majestic lake atmosphere reminds me of the true meaning of life. No hustle and bustle of the daily grind, this was what the ‘real world’ supposed to be. Yet, we still had to work to do, to get where we were going.
Team work was a lesson that kept reoccurring in my life. Carrying the supplies together through 3 portages made light work getting to our campsite. We only had to make two trips to cross the portages the first year. Looking back, I believe it was the Universe taking it easy on us. It was the perfect trip to get me hooked and addicted to her beauty and slow flow.
We camped on Bass Lake and true to its name, it was well stocked. I remember dropping breadcrumbs at the shore of the boulder beach in the evenings watching them waiting for morsels, like my pets. I have a fondness for loons, and they were everywhere. Laughing their loony laugh in the morning, singing a lingering lullaby each night. There were loon families passing by our campsite consistently. It felt very synchronistic. At the time I was living on Loon Drive.
We let the loons guide us to fishing spots. Figuring they were the experts on knowing where the fish were. As I cast my line. Stacy said to me “Be careful honey, you don’t want to catch a loon.”
I had not even thought about that. “Oh, Geeze! … you’re right. Thank you!”
She knew me well, and my animal loving heart would have been beside myself had I snagged a loon by being careless. Not to mention it is very illegal. We love and protect the Minnesota State Bird dontchyaknow!
During one of these fishing excursions, we were catching fish left and right. We would help each other net the fish. Then take it off the hook for one another so we wouldn’t rock the boat. I caught a fish and while Stacy was leaning over the side of the boat to scoop it in the net. We both leaned a little too much and before we knew what happened the canoe was tipping over.
It felt like slow motion. I was looking at her. She was looking at me. Both of us had eyes wide as owls. There was no time for words. Stacy intuitively did what had to do at the time to keep the boat from sinking. She willingly took a header into the lake to save the boat and everything in it. SPLOOSH!
Stacy went in the drink… still the canoe was taking on water quickly. Sinking a rented canoe and our only way back to civilization is just not a good idea. I quickly leaned to the right doing my best to get the canoe level. Before we knew it, Stacy was in the water, and the canoe had about a foot of water in it.
Stacy is a Pisces; I tease her about being part mermaid because she loves to be in the water. That is one of my favorite things about our friendship. Having fun friends to play in the water with is a blessing I cherish. Thank goodness for her natural ability to swim and fortunately the water was warm that year.
I looked at her with a face full of worry. “Oh Sh**! Are you ok?!”
Still processing the surprise of being in the water she replied. “Yep, I’m good!”
The sudden aftershock of it got her giggling. As she held on to the side of the canoe and I paddled to the jagged shoreline. She was laughing the whole way. Once I knew she was ok, I started laughing too, and then we just couldn’t stop. Both giggling and laughing uncontrollably.
We had to try several times and in different locations to empty the canoe. We really did a number. Pulling the waterlogged canoe up on the steep, woody, rocky shoreline wasn’t easy. We’d try to lift the front of the canoe, then the back of it wanted to sink and take on more water…it was so darn heavy. With teamwork, we finally accomplished it; while laughing! Thankfully, we can still chuckle about this event.
Being the spiritual women we are. We are continuously looking for meaning and signs in our everyday lives. I believe Spirit doesn’t always use words to communicate. It can utilize people, places, animals, music, signs, events, etc. to get my attention. This belief has helped us grow more in tune with ourselves, each other and our connection to the Universe/Spirit.
I believe the giggling reaction was a divinely guided instinctive response… a therapeutic laugh! Our souls knew we must release the tension of that starling experience. The laughter vibrationally dispersed the energy of anxiety instead of allowing it to stay with us. I believe it was a celestial intervention so we could continue to adventure together again and with trust.
Loons are water birds. Water is connected to intuition, emotions and divine feminine energy. The message from the beautiful birds was to begin going deeper within myself. It was also a sign to start analyzing my dreams and decipher triggers that stir up big feelings.
We believe dreams we have while sleeping are our subconscious communicating with us. To this day Stacy and I will share poignant dreams texting one another to help us process the meaning of them. Acknowledging these subliminal messages has connected us deeply to trust our higher consciousness.
The prominent presence of the loon our first year was a significant sign. Guiding me to the beginning of my spiritual awakening. It was the year I was able to start doing the inner work of releasing fears, and self-limiting patterns. I took the loons advice and started diving deep into the mysteries of my soul. Learning to acknowledge my intuition and trust the guidance of my instincts deeply over the years.
Speaking of receiving signs from above… They say you get what you ask for. This rang true for me on our first BWCA Adventure. On the day we tipped the canoe; I was starting to get a little overconfident. I figured we portaged no problem, set up camp like champs, and made a fire with damp wood. We were rocking this adventure!
For some reason after completing a task I kept saying… “Does anyone know any hard games?!”
That day I got what I asked for. Yet, because I had asked a few times… the Universe kept giving.
It was still our first trip to the BWCA and the second day. We decide we wanted to adventure to the next lake over. We packed a day pack, with water and granola bars and headed south on the canoe until we saw a clear path. We paddle the canoe to shore; Stacy hiked the canoe up on her shoulders and we began hiking.
We must have walked a mile or more in portage mode. Passing a few hikers on the way. Some of them did look at us with concern and somewhat confused. But we did not know we were not on the intended trail. After a while I was starting to get suspicious that we may not be going where we thought we were headed? Stacy lowered the canoe, and we left it on the side of the path while we hiked up the trail further.
After a trek we consulted the map again, discovering we must have read it wrong. This time we saw the trail we were on was only leading to more trails. If we wanted to get to another lake, we would be hiking/portaging for quite a few more miles. We had just embarked on a long “portage to nowhere.”
As we say here in Minnesota… OPE!
Darn! We had to turn around and head back to where we came from. I was annoyed at first, thinking I could/should do better. I have been the map reader for most of the time on our trips. It’s something I enjoy and usually do well. This was our first adventure and at the time I considered it unacceptable that I let this happen.
I wasn’t perturbed because we went on a ‘portage to nowhere”. I was upset because I know how important it is to read a map correctly. It is the only way to get where you are going and back to the entry/exit points in the Boundary Waters. Google Maps won’t save you in the wilderness. Even though we always do our best to make our adventures fun, there are still very real dangers we must be aware of.
Navigating is a skill all BWCA Adventurers absolutely need to learn. I am often harder on me than anyone else would be. And I had just proven to myself that thoughts become things. I found out that was not a great idea to be asking for harder games! After that, I didn’t feel so confident taunting the Universe. It was yet another reminder the Universe is truly listening.
I learned the outcomes are better when I change my thoughts and vibe my best intentions. It has made me be more purposeful when communicating my intentions to the Universe. I can choose to change my energy by doing yoga, meditating, walking the dog, call a friend, nap… I must do absolutely everything I can to get low vibin’ energy shifted before the Universe responds in kind.
The Universe was reiterating for me to ask for what I want. Not what I don’t want. Although, the silver lining was this ‘harder game’ has made me a very conscious and cautious route planner since! Same goes for my navigating my thoughts. What you think is how you feel! How you “feel” is the vibrational energy you are tuning into the Universe with. True story.
These are great memories and hilarious experiences, thankfully. We were lucky and safe. I don’t take that protection for granted. I am grateful it was Stacy with me during these adventures and tests offered in the BWCA. We balance each other almost as steadily as the scales of justice most of the time. Working together to get through these challenges; choosing not to dwell on these mishaps, is a key ingredient in sustaining the joy of all our BWCA adventures.
Year after year, we learned we were able to trust and depend on each other. Each of us putting in our best efforts to fully support a safe and joyful journey together. We learned that we appreciated the unique skills we both brought. I can’t help but think this philosophy must ring true in my daily life.
I do my best to appreciate differences. Keep my chin up. Laugh at my blunders. If I stumble down the wrong path doesn’t mean it won’t be a good story to tell later. By choosing to be with great company and finding people who know how to be a team, and willing to carry part of the load, it was easy to enjoy the journey.
I can recognize that those bloopers we endured together helped us develop the wisdom and trust we deeply appreciate in each other now. These are the types of relationships that feed my soul and support leveling up of my spirit. I love and value my best friend and Adventure Sister Stacy very much. Which leads me to tell the Universe what I want… Yes. Thank you! More please!
Sending blessing and much love,
Emy Minzel
Heart Centered, Nature Lover, Writer, Advocate, Adventurer, Yogi, and so much more…
EmyMinzel.com
Emy Minzel 