The Questionnaire: Sammy Kanofsky
An adaptation of Proust’s questionnaire, weekly, for one of our community members.
Samantha (Sammy) Kanofsky is a mentor, forager, forest bathing guide, and listener of trees. As a young adult, she stumbled into the magical experience of letting anxiety melt away while wandering the oak, bay and redwood trails of Huichin (Berkeley), only to find the anxiety replaced by a profound sense of awe, peace, and inspiration. She created Soul|Light Ecotherapy in 2017 to invite others into the healing magic of spending time immersed in nature, and is proud to serve as a mentor to Bay Area middle and high school girls and nonbinary youth. You can read more about Sammy and her offerings here.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Sitting in the forest on a warm day in spring, with birds chirping and fresh greens & mushrooms to forage.
What is your greatest fear?
My family members dying.
What is your current state of mind?
Troubled, but glad to be eating spaghetti with garlic sauce. Food is medicine.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Scale: our society is obsessed with it.
What is the quality you most like in a person?
Playful imagination
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Huichun / Berkeley
When and where were / are you happiest?
Living in Seattle one summer off college, on a lake in a house with friends, riding my bike everyday to sit and watch the water, and visiting the farmers market each Saturday in our borrowed Subaru hatchback. It was warm, I was outside, I had cash, and there were parties aplenty.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Finding a meaningful way to work and be of service, away from a computer.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
I'd like to come back as a very talented exotic dancer. and/or a singer, pianist, or competitive cheerleader ;)
What is your most treasured possession?
my framed photograph of my grandmother holding me as a baby
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
watching people suffer, be killed or tortured (i have Israel & Palestine on my mind, these days)
What is your favorite activity / pastime?
forest bathing in redwoods
What is your most marked characteristic?
deep listening
What do you most value in your friends?
A combination of depth and silliness.
What is it that you most dislike?
capitalism
What is your motto?
get out of your head and into the trees... do whatever it takes to keep dancing