Calm from seemingly out of nowhere.

Something about waterfalls always blindsides me.

I plan days in advance and the night before my mind busily runs through a checklist of camera gears and parts while charging batteries, researching and writing a short script and committing it to memory that I may sound coherent in front of the camera the next day, then packing everything in my backpack, all without ever thinking of the reason I’m doing all this—to visit a waterfall.

Then, arriving at the trail the following day lugging all these equipment and multitasking like crazy to capture footages that I\’m hoping will become useful, as I near the waterfall to well within earshot of its roar and without having yet laid eyes on the waterfall itself, a calm from out of nowhere penetrates me and seems to transport me to a whole other place, an opening in the chest if you will that connects me to something great and intimate.

All is well, it seems to say.

Maybe there is no need for the phrase “to stop and smell the flowers”. A visit to a waterfall will always stop the interloper in his or her tracks and feel alive and connected with everything in this world.