Facing Forward

A train ride to Canada, the medicine of conversations, and the quiet practice of turning the heart toward what is next

I’m 70. I needed to shake things up. This may sound strange with all the shaking up that is going on in the world. Maybe it’s not shaking up I needed so much as a fresh perspective—another lens to see the world and mine. I no longer wonder about my purpose in life—in my morning vows I do ask to understand the best use of my life energy at this time in my life.

I have a friend of over 20 years who lives on Vancouver Island, BC, whom I have never met. She was interested in my Thundering Years book because she and her husband were offering nature encounters for teens. Then she took my online course, The Initiated Writer, and later got some mentoring from me for a book she was writing.

Corinna Stevenson Achk Miskinâhk Iskwêw / Spirit Turtle Woman

We decided to offer some online offerings, starting several years ago with a Wednesday night where she shared her Métis and earth wisdom, and I led contemplative practices and writing prompts. Then we did a couple of yearlong online circles and are presently doing Hosting Our Edges.

I tried to visit twice before, but I couldn’t leave my (very) old dog, Snickers, as we were attached to each other. I am writing this piece to you from their lovely cabin, bordered by their Ravenwood forest. Out beyond the forest are rivers and the ocean.

Corinna introduced me to the Grandmother Tree. I took in how beautifully she carries her age. All the trees here are large and tall, and so it is much like I feel when looking up at the stars—so small, but part of something so large.

Many wondered what our encounter would be like. The Canadian border guy’s eyebrows lifted when I said we were meeting for the first time. His next question made me realize he might be worried I was being scammed somehow. But he smiled when I told him a bit about our herstory. My daughter’s first text asked me how it was meeting Corinna for the first time.

I saw Corinna Stevenson Achk Miskinâhk Iskwêw / Spirit Turtle Woman walking across the parking lot to the ramp where I got off the ferry onto Vancouver Island. Her tall strength and beauty were as if the trees of Ravenwood had uprooted to greet me. In person, she is more radiant than virtually. (And her radiance comes through in the virtual meetings.) It felt like seeing each other again—two old friends picking up where they left off.

As I write this, I am on my third day here. Yesterday we cleaned up the medicine wheel, and she has taken me around to meet the many grandmothers here—the river, the trees, the ocean. I don’t think it is too bold for me to say (and Corinna will agree) that this, too, is home for me. I plan on returning every April to be with my friends.

RAVENWOOD FOREST, Vancouver Island

My view of myself and my world shifted on the train and continues to open and shift. I met a young woman research scientist (Hi, Lorraine!); we, too, connected like old friends reuniting, and our conversation brought home to me that no one is truly a stranger. She contains many women—an artist, a conservationist, a traveler. She told me she needs to get her feet in the ground—her favorite place, the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Canada. Once her feet are buried in the soil, she is grounded again in what is true for her. Her father, a conservationist himself, shared their little two-person roomette with me as we traveled through mossy woods and into the train station at Vancouver. He is a fan of trains.

“I like to face forward,” he said when we three crowded into their two-seated roomette to continue our conversation from the meal car .

I, too, like my view to face forward, both singularly and collectively.

I am now headed out to help get the sweat lodge ready for tomorrow.

Mostly, I am here to listen and to pray that we all face forward in our hearts and in our shared lives.

Writing Prompt 🪶
Write about a moment when you realized you were no longer looking back. What shifted in you? What were you leaving behind, and what—seen or unseen—were you moving toward? Let the scene unfold with sensory detail.

Active Contemplation 🌀
Sit quietly and ask: Where in my life am I still turned backward?
Notice without judgment. Then gently ask: What would it mean, right now, to face forward here?

Contemplative Action 🌿
Go outside, if you can. Stand with your feet firmly on the ground. Feel the earth holding you. Then physically turn your body to face a new direction—forward—and take a few slow steps. As you walk, carry a simple intention: I am willing to face forward in my heart and in my life.

All my relations.