My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
There is such a powerful eloquence in silence. True genius is knowing when to say nothing, to allow the experience, the moment itself, to carry the message, to say what needs to be said. Words are less important, less effective than feeling. When you can sit in perfect silence with someone, you truly know how to communicate.
Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations
So this morning I needed to take my car in because it was making a noise. I dropped it off then took the bus home. It takes two bus rides and a walk halfway across campus to get home and about 45 minutes. I discovered and appreciate just how easy bicycling really is.
I feel sadness today. Found out my medical insurance did not pay as much as expected so now I owe more. The car is going to cost more than expected. This country, and the world, seems to be bent on hatred and violence, unrest and division, all of which causes finger pointing, blaming, and always perpetuating resentments. Coming to mutual solutions doesn’t seem to be on the horizon. And believing our diversity is our strength rather than a problem doesn’t seem to be part of anyone’s vision.
But on a positive note we have beautiful blue skies and sunshine to bask in. So, once I arrived home, I let nature speak to my soul, as only she can. I sat in the warm sun, which feels almost like being hugged, and ate a refreshing orange. I watched leaves dancing with the wind and excitedly take to the air. I watched a group of Sparrows snatching insects out of the air. I listened to Blue Jays making a racket in the trees. They could be arguing but I doubt they will kill each other. And, I sit with inner silence, my journal, pen and let my breath be my prayer. Thanks for listening if you read this far.
It is no longer a matter of expressing reality,
Aaron Siskind
but of expressing what one feels about reality.
In some places along the Spring Creek Trail there is little color change among the trees while there are trees in my neighborhood that are almost barren of leaves. This image shows a touch of color and its reflection in the glass like water at Cattail Chorus Natural Area. My feelings in this image is not the colors as much as the clear open blue sky and reflection. I admit to being attracted to our Colorado clouds, yet some of the most impressive images one can make are the amazing blue cloudless skies.
“I know of no pleasure deeper than that which comes from contemplating the natural world and trying to understand it.”
David Attenborough
Time and again, we miss out on the great treasures in our lives because we are so restless. In our minds we are always elsewhere. We are seldom in a place where we stand and in the time that is now.
John O’Donohue
We can discover in the latter years of our life that moments of stillness and quiet can be great friends. If we embrace these friends we can experience less restlessness and spend less time caught up in our heads, a sometimes formidable neighborhood. The less time in our heads the less likely we are to miss out on some part of the journey through life. When I can stand in the now, I can receive the great treasure of a starburst.
Hello, sun in my face.
Mary Oliver
Hello you who made the morning
and spread it over the fields…
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
I would add to her start of the day, a bicycle ride to a favorite coffee shop and an image of the sunrise along the way. Weather app suggests the possibility of 90 degrees today. Toasty!
A gift I did not expect when I bought this e-bike is being able to hear more of the natural world. Her voice has always been there, hidden in the bustle of the city, drowned out by the sound of man’s machines. My ebike has a small and almost silent motor, so I feel its assist more than hear it.
I like riding on the city’s hard surface trails where I am no longer in the midst of traffic but become more immersed in nature. Now the sounds of the natural world begin to dominate when I ride alongside the river on the Poudre Trail or follow the creek along Spring Creek Trail. In some areas I am surrounded by a canopy of trees and shrubbery, which are wonderful sound barriers to the pollution of traffic noise. This allows me to hear the water sing it’s melody on its journey; hear songbirds as I tootle along; hear squirrels barking and squeaking as they hide atop the trees; hear the alert prairie dogs barking warnings; hear the caw of a crow soaring above; hear the wind rustling cottonwood leaves along the trail; and every once in a while hearing the song of a bird I’m not familiar with. And one sound that strikes a note in my soul is the almost complete moments of silence found on these trails. I love the gift of this language of the natural world.