If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
Khalil Gibran
Isn’t strange that you can live each day and never notice the changes around you. Today I listened to a guy talking about the ‘cloud appreciation society’. A group who are fascinated by clouds. The guy said “Cloud Watching legitimises doing nothing especially important in this ever busy technology driven life”. Everyone has lay on their backs and watched the shapes clouds make and identified rabbits. It’s what our imagination was created for.
So after work and before I cleaned the house I decided to go cloud watching just for a while. I am lucky enough to live next to a big park, which when I had dogs I visited each day. But in the absence of any 4 legged friends and being on my lonesome tonight a walk in the park seemed to offer a different perspective. Funny how things seem different when you are on your own. First thing is you are left with the little voices in your head. Sometimes these voices are repetition of what has been said to me in the last few days, sometimes they are from the past. Being left with your own thoughts is great if you are a good reflective thinker, but I am hopeless. So tonight I avoided too much thinking by looking around the park and listening to my music.
This meant I saw things I hadn’t seen before, certainly when I have company with me, I tend to be preoccupied with conversation but as I sat on a park bench and looked at the ducks I noticed in front of me was a ‘Chiming Tree’, a lovely old tree with wind chimes hanging in the branches. As the wind gently blew through the leaves I listened to a beautiful lullaby and watched the branches sway back and forward as if rocking a big green baby to sleep. The bench I sat on as I watched this little show, had a plaque dedicated to “Austin and Muriel Together Forever”. I wondered had Austin and Muriel sat here? had he got down on his knee here to propose to her? was it a special place for them both? It made me wish I wasn’t on my own tonight, it seemed such a waste, especially as I watched the sunset. Yes I had come looking for clouds to legitimise doing nothing and found the perfect romantic spot. Well I may not have been able to have a romantic moment but I did have a moment of appreciation for these beautiful things and the freedom I have to experience them. Legitimising doing nothing may also be an aid to seeing more and allowing you to hear the chimes of life too…..
Dolly Parton said
Storms make trees take deeper roots
And
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
wherethehellisgillian 