I had a fun experience while leaving my workplace yesterday. I encountered a man standing by a tree looking curiously up into its branches at a locust (cicada) sounding its deafening screechy song. His name is Anthony, and he works in my building, but unlike the myriad workers who pass that tree each day, he had stopped to smell the flowers, or in this case, to observe life in one of its many forms.
We are very much alike, Anthony and I, and we hit it off and had quite a conversation on the way to the parking lot, but not before both standing and looking up into the tree. It was mostly about taking time to notice things around us and not being so caught up in just making it through each day, as so many do.
We must learn to listen, and that does not always mean just with our ears. We hear with our ears, but truly other senses are employed if we are listening. Hearing happens, such as when the proverbial tree falls in the forest, assuming we are there. But listening is something that only happens as a matter of choice, and involves focus, and stillness.
Be still, and listen. A dear friend of mine, Marjam, a half a world away in Estonia, spoke in her blog about the advice of a monk. When asked if he could teach one and only one thing to the world, what would it be? He said merely, "Listen."
I do not wish to take away from the simple profundity of that statement, but wish to add my own experience to it.
I have learned through my life, to still myself, to find a quiet place, or to be quiet wherever I am, and listen.
Life is moving, breathing, laughing, loving, all around us, each moment, and we see so little of it, as we move from one place to another.
Learn to be still.
Learn to Listen.
Shhhhh.
Hear it?
We are very much alike, Anthony and I, and we hit it off and had quite a conversation on the way to the parking lot, but not before both standing and looking up into the tree. It was mostly about taking time to notice things around us and not being so caught up in just making it through each day, as so many do.
We must learn to listen, and that does not always mean just with our ears. We hear with our ears, but truly other senses are employed if we are listening. Hearing happens, such as when the proverbial tree falls in the forest, assuming we are there. But listening is something that only happens as a matter of choice, and involves focus, and stillness.
Be still, and listen. A dear friend of mine, Marjam, a half a world away in Estonia, spoke in her blog about the advice of a monk. When asked if he could teach one and only one thing to the world, what would it be? He said merely, "Listen."
I do not wish to take away from the simple profundity of that statement, but wish to add my own experience to it.
I have learned through my life, to still myself, to find a quiet place, or to be quiet wherever I am, and listen.
Life is moving, breathing, laughing, loving, all around us, each moment, and we see so little of it, as we move from one place to another.
Learn to be still.
Learn to Listen.
Shhhhh.
Hear it?
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