Listen
“Listening
is being completely present to whatever is before us with all of who
we are.”
Mark
Nepo
Finally,
I begin the day on the porch with the sun rising and the
birds singing. I wonder why it is that cacophonous human voices are
irritating, while a million bird songs sung all at once is
pleasurable. Listening now, I hear singing sparrows, doves,
cardinals, mockingbirds, crows calling to one another, a woodpecker
drumming, and thrush trilling to his mate, she answering back. It's
beautiful...so beautiful, in fact, that I'm distracted from writing.
Do
you ever spend a day consciously listening? Listening is perhaps the
most important skill one can develop. Being fully present with
another person, not caught up in one's own thoughts, is a gift rarely
given. Most of us, myself included, talk far too much, and listen way
too little. I'm not sure how it happened, but allowing silence to
extend between us has become awkward, rather than peaceful. It seems
that incessant talking goes with our pace of life. In addition to
birdsong, I hear cars racing by one street over, trains hammering
through Avondale, horns blaring, and an airplane dropping toward the
landing strip. Daily life has begun, and with it will be talking,
talking, talking.
It's
a good thing, a blessed thing, in fact, to carve out some moments in
the day devoted to silent listening—preferably outside. It's
conducive to observing light and shadows, watching leaves glimmer and
dance, and being fully present with all senses in play. It is
meditative and refreshing, and connects us to the rest of nature.
Gathering silence, light and birdsong within, we can take its
peacefulness back into our busy world.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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