Mindful listening to re-calibrate

A missed connection today left me standing in the street, sun blazing down, holding my notebooks and realizing my planned meeting wasn’t going ahead. Instead of returning to the office, I wandered into the near by park and took a moment to listen.

Do you do this? Stepping my body and my consciousness out of the hustle and bustle of the busy day and mindfully placing my attention on the natural world around me, I found a calmness that had been unreachable to me moments earlier. I heard so many sounds that I just wasn’t present to moments before. Birds singing, the clicking of bicycle gears from a passing commuter, a foreign language on a whispered phone call, the leaves rustling, the honking of an irritated Ibis, the labored breaths of a jogger, the sounds of leaves and seed pods as they fall from the trees around me, and insects singing in the warmth of the midday sun. What a beautiful way to re-centre and re-calibrate myself with nature.

Why don’t you have a go?

Mindful observation This is simple but powerful because it helps you notice and appreciate your environment in a deeper, more profound way.

1. Choose a a spot you feel comfortable, a park, bavk yard, anywhere. Just listen for few moments. Keep your eyes open but pay attention to the sounds you hear.
2. Don’t do anything except notice the sounds. Simply relax into listening for as long as your concentration allows.
3. Listen as if you are hearing these sounds for the first time.
4. Let your ears explore every aspect of the environment around you, and allow yourself to be consumed.
5. Allow yourself to connect with energy world around you and in your listening, find you plave of connection in the environment.
6. Relax into your immersion and spend the time you have available just listening.

(I don’t know if you can see him, but there is a Kookaburra in that last picture that I only discovered by listening)