My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.
Hermann Hesse
sitting on a bench at the natural area
ms
I look out across the open meadow
a light wind blows from the south
softly whispering through golden grass
taking simple breaths I remain present
far from those places thoughts beckon
a blue jay chatters from a pine branch
joined by a chorus of barking prairie dogs
I’m listening…
but all goes silent with my unexpected sneeze
an engulfing quiet settles upon the meadow
silence is broken with a chickadees two-note song
inviting the prairie dogs and blue jays back
a squawking magpie joins in and so the
concert continues much to my pleasure
within this simple experience I am
offered one of the many gifts of nature
I’m listening…
In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
Gandhi
Listen to the wind
Native American Saying
it talks
Listen to the silence
it speaks
Listen to your heart
it knows.
I’m learning to enjoy the silence of nature as I take time each day to listen in nature.
fresh blanket of snow
ms
covers cold open meadow
demanding silence
early predawn sky
ms
morning bird songs are silent
quiet fills the air
listen to the inner voice
heart now filled with gratitude
in stillness and silence
ms
colors begin to appear
predawn mystery
I sit in the upper parking lot at Pineridge Natural Area for this morning’s sunrise. Below me the city slowly stirs awake. Here, in this natural area, nature has already begun stirring as chattering magpies sit atop cottonwood tree branches. The geese and ducks make small waves across the reservoir. The wind is still. In the cold I listen to the silence and experience a calming that I will carry into my day. This is becoming an integral part of my morning prayer and meditation. A few years ago I couldn’t imagine spending mornings like this. Now, living in the present is how I choose to begin my day. For each new dawn offers the mystery of this day’s events that only we can live and experience in the present moment.