Just Listen...

This is a challenging time to be a human being. We feel anxious, we feel sad, we feel lonely. Wendell Berry's words:

“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.”

resonates in me in a new way. (If you want to read the whole poem, and hear Berry read it in his own voice click here.)

I have also found that more than once since we started sheltering at home, when I felt worried, and trapped and lonely, I went for a walk and listened to the birds, and watched the trees starting to come back to life, and I felt somehow less lonely, because I could see and hear that I was not, in fact alone. I was surrounded by the birds making their music. I went to sniff a weeping cherry and heard before I saw that it was filled with bees buzzing in a pollination feast. Whenever I take a moment to pay attention I feel and see and hear the web of life of which we are all a part.


The plants are all blooming early this year, and while that is worrying, I’ve decided to just allow myself to be fed by those purple and yellow blooms -- to be fed by the slowly unfolding drama of bud and leaf -- to be fed by the sound of the wind and the birds.

"I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief."

Before I turn on the news in the morning, I check the window where I can see my new orange tulips getting ready to bloom.As I let my dog out I pause for a moment in the doorway and listen to the morning chorus of birds.

Some of you are already intuitively drawn to this practice of gazing out the window or heading out for a walk when you are troubled. You may not know that studies have shown that bringing your attention into what you see, hear, feel and taste in that moment is good medicine whenever we are worried.

So today in honor of Earth day we gratefully turn our attention to our senses. And since many of us are spending so much time staring at a screen, we will give our eyes a rest and see what our ears can hear.

So I invite you into a time of listening meditation. If you have headphones this is a great time to put them on. You may want to close your eyes, or even lay down.

For this meditation I chose recordings by Lang Elliott, a professional nature recordist who made a lot of recordings in our bioregion. His recordings can be found Here

He writes:

“Behold the music of the birds, living proof that nature is healthy and productive, that earth is overflowing with goodness, and that all is well in the world. Who is not uplifted by the twittering of the birds at dawn, by nature showering us with sweet notes that celebrate the coming of the day?”

I like  "Beaver Pond at Dawn" and "Foggy Bottom" because they were recorded near me. Chose one that appeals to you and notice all the different sounds you can hear. Notice familiar sounds. Notice unfamiliar sounds....

Now I’d like to give you the chance to meditate on the sounds in your own ecosystem. Take off your headphones. Allow the sounds of your own space to just float through you. We often try to ignore the unpleasant sounds and focus on the pleasant sounds, but today I invite you to just notice whatever is there, to let it pass through you and then let it go....

 What was that like for you?

• What was it like to just focus on listening?
• Did you hear or feel anything that surprised you?
• What are the sounds like in your neighborhood?
• Has there ever been a time when the sounds of nature renewed or restored you?
• If nature sounds are not your thing, what kinds of experiences do renew or restore you?

Whenever you are feeling overwhelmed in the days ahead, the invitation is there...

"come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief...
come into the presence of still water...
rest in the grace of the world, and [be] free."