Confession: My mind has been a jumbled mess lately.
Between school starting for the kids, new photography courses in the works, and a constant barrage of depressing world headlines, I've been feeling completely out-of-whack. So yesterday morning, I said out loud, "Enough."
I wanted to adopt a policy I've seen my children (and dog) following more and more these days: gazing out at the world and simply having "a really good think."
I took my morning coffee (iced, milked, and sugared, because I don't like coffee unless it tastes like coffee ice cream) and parked myself in a comfy chair facing the forest in our back yard. I forced myself (yes, it was a physical and mental effort) to just sit quietly and watch the morning unfold before me.
It was as though the back yard (which had seemed lifeless) came alive before my eyes.
A tiny white butterfly flittered between blades of grass, drinking its dewy breakfast.
A chickadee landed on the kids' swing-set, briefly.
A golden aspen leaf drifted lazily to the ground.
There were quite a few comical chipmunk skirmishes around the back yard. "High-tailing it out of there" is a perfect description of what chipmunks do when they decide to give up on a fight.
In between these observations, I realized how long it had been since I'd gifted myself with pure time in the morning, just to ponder and observe. Much too often, between various work tasks and household chores, I've been guilty of checking in on the world's nonsense and noise (a very nerve-rattling business indeed).
Now more than ever, I need to take time just to be still.
I want to get back to basics.
To keep the morning sacred.
To heighten, to deepen, to breathe.
Are you with me?
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