Stillness

Where do you go to regain a sense of calm and equanimity when the bustle of life leaves you off balance? For me, a reset can happen in the space of a moment, as long as I am ready to receive it. Likely I am outdoors (or at least with a view in that direction), usually close to home, often amidst trees, preferably near water. When I am in these places and paying attention, the monkey mind fades and I reconnect with the rhythms of nature and its lessons of ephemerality.

Here is what that might look like: On a walk with my dog, I glimpse the way a branch composes itself against a foggy backdrop, its emerald leaves glowing against the gray-greens of the distant pines. Or a lakeside birch will command attention as it strikes a graceful pose, its branches draping curtains of wispy strings beaded with dew. In winter, I notice a clutch of delicate dried grasses that mingle just so--a designer’s wabi sabi arrangement. Looking out my kitchen window as I finish the washing up, I see the last of the paperbark’s leaves clinging on, deep into autumn, as if lighting the dark path into winter.

These compositions are everywhere, for anyone. Their gift is deliverance from mindless distraction to a place of quiet wonder and everyday awe—or at the very least, a moment of stillness in the storm.

Christine Gedye, October 2019