Restore Myself Trekking San Francisco Hill and Smelling Roses
The best path is nature’s path.
Hilly San Francisco is filled with beautiful staircases. We boast over 900 sets of staircases including the Filbert Street Steps, Hidden Garden Stairs (mosaic tiles), Lincoln Park Steps, etc.
In response to Dr. Preeti Singh’s call for submissions to her beautiful Inspirations from Nature column in the Reciprocal publication, I would like to share my favourite urban hike that immediately unites me with nature. It’s the Filbert Street Steps, which connect the Coit Tower and Sansome Street in the Little Italy area.
The Filbert Steps is one of the hidden staircases of San Francisco. Filbert Street turns from a street to a flight of wooden stairs and then back to a street again.
The wooden stairs are lined with age-old cottages (from the 1800s) and lush gardens on each side. Many residences are only accessible by stairs.
My favourite stopover is the Grace Marchant Garden along the intersection of Filbert Steps and Napier Lane. Grace was a resident on Napier Lane and spent 33 years of her life tirelessly beautifying the hill. She threw away all the garbage and planted roses, gladiolus, and any flowers she could get.
As she planted more, her health improved.
How Nature Heals
These quotes say it best:
“Nature itself is the best physician.”– Hippocrates
From a psychologist on nature’s power of healing:
“Longer term studies looking at brain activity of people after three days of being in nature (without any technology) reveal lower levels of theta activity suggesting that their brains had rested.”-Dr. David Strayer
Nature also restores peace by sweeping our cares away.
“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”-John Muir
Let’s Take a Walk Together
As I walked up the wooden Filbert Steps, I frequently glanced back at the expansive view of the San Francisco Bay.
I breathed in the fresh air and lost myself in the beautiful flowers and plants around me.
Once I stepped into the Grace Marchant Garden, my curiosity led me to explore every type of flower and put my nose close to them.
“As human beings, we have an innate need to explore, to see what’s around the corner.” — Jimmy Chin
As I sing praises of these gorgeous creations, I realize I slow down and am genuinely blissful.
Nature gets me out of my mind cage and livens up my senses.
Spend more time in nature, even a few minutes, to benefit from its restorative power.
Before I close, I would like to give a shoutout to 3 authors’ beautiful writings on nature: Dr. Preeti Singh on the calm beauty of nature, Diane Neill Tincher on forest bathing, and pockett dessert on the balance between masculinity and feminity.
Thank you for reading my story.
If you like this story, please consider joining Medium to follow my writings and unlimited stories from other writers.
