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After you read this. Unplug your mind. Turn off the computer and go outside. In fact, if you want to do it before you read it, that's fine too.
Ease up for awhile and simply stare blankly into space. It's OK. Reestablish your presence in the universe. Your place. There's an empty bench somewhere, go sit on it. And find peace of mind. Calmness.
As one of my favorite authors Diane Ackerman recently wrote:
"I wish schools would teach the value of cultivating presence. As people complain more and more these days, attention spans are growing shorter, and we’ve begun living in attention blinks. More social than ever before, we’re spending less time alone with our thoughts, and even less relating to other animals and nature. Too often we’re missing in action, brain busy, working or playing indoors, while completely unaware of the world around us.
"One solution is to spend a few minutes every day just paying close attention to some facet of nature..."
For the rest of the article "Are We Living in Sensory Overload or Sensory Poverty?" go to: Presence.
Thanks, ThreadDog
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5 comments:
Lovely advice. Needed too. Thank you.
Hi Lyn,
After a long long time, I came to your blog and as usual I found it refreshing and soothing as nature itself is.
Thank You.
I hope you've been doing great.
Smiles :)
Aby
Hello Aby. How is India?
Smiles back to you.
Yes, Marie. Advice that even I need to heed. Sometimes I forget.
Met a man today who told me Arizona near Tucson was a great place to find interesting birds. Need to go there someday.
This reminds me of a suggestion from Joseph Cornell, in "Listening to Nature: How to Deepen Your Awareness of Nature." As a way to focus your attention more clearly on what you're seeing, Cornell suggests thinking in expanding circles, starting with the with becoming aware of your own body, feet, legs, hands and arms, all the way up to your head. Then extend your awareness to a few feet in front of you, paying attention to what is there--rocks, insects, grass--and so on, gradually taking in more of the scene before you.
A lovely post, Lyn!
P.S. I think I'll use that Ackerman quote for one of my blog's Monday's Nature Quotes.
Thanks for bringing my attention to that article!
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