Quiet Gift Surrounds Me

What’s the “inner” power of nature’s quiet?

“Learn silence. With the quiet serenity of a meditative mind, listen, absorb, transcribe, and transform.” (Pythagoras)

Have you taken time lately to observe the pleasing sounds of wild nature? Consider then how mastering the art of stillness outdoors can help us perform this task more effectively? Know that the famed explorer John Muir certainly understood this vital need to listen to remote surroundings during his extensive of the American West. Hear his powerful words on this subject in the following video.

https://youtu.be/FLX2lhSsQS4?si=8XnzEWYaiWWXZjaz

 

As for me, I’ve also savored those rare times of “Mother Earth’s” comparative quiet in travel as a healthful remedy from  my bustling city life in South Florida. Know however, I’m not the kind of person to stay for very long in one spot and just ponder my surroundings. So it takes some adjustment on my part to slow down my mind and stay in the present observational moment. Thus I might sit cross legged in classic yoga pose a few minutes to better prepare myself to experience the natural world in such enhanced sensory mode. At first, my eyes and ears often focus on one spot at a time for any signs of movement. If can I do this long enough, I then feel more focused and relaxed while oftentimes immersing myself more deeply into random sounds that surround me. A whistling breeze, crackling branch, or a hungry call of a bird; that’s all it might take to to enter that self meditative state. Consider for example some memorable place fixations below from our past travels that I recall feeling inwardly “drawn” in this way.