Waking Up

I wake up in the morning

To the sound that I’m not dead

It’s the tapping of the seagull 

On the window above my bed

Sometimes it takes an external stimulus to bring you in to the present moment. Whether it is the sound of the seagull or a bright colour, a movement, a shape, a pattern, anything that brings you in to the ‘here and now’, helps you notice.

Colour attracts

The sunlight draws your attention

Movement of the otter helps you notice

Again movement draws attention

Patterns or symmetry may be attractive

Living Mindfully, living with awareness, helps us come out of the ‘Conceptual’ mode common in today’s fast moving environment. An environment where we are constantly thinking, planning, analysing, regretting and my favourite word - catastrophising. A place where we are always wondering ‘what next?’, what if? And why? 

Mindfulness practice, especially a practice based in nature, helps us to enter a more experiential mode, a mode where we notice more of what is around us, a mode where we see the reality of the world we are part of rather than watching the fake reality that can exist in our minds, on TV or other media.

By noticing and engaging with this real world we can learn to be less stressed, less anxious. We can learn to be more appreciative of our senses, how they help us feel, help us simply be.

But there may be a downside. When we engage fully with this natural environment we are part of, we also see how our lives and those of others impact on it, how fragile it is. The key is not to allow the damage seen to cause more anxiety but to use it as a call to action, to engage with others in protecting our ecosystem, our planet, acting to reduce our impact, after all it’s the only planet we have. If we protect it, it benefits us and all other creatures that depend on it.