present

after a beautiful and extra long hike this past sunday i cannot shake how much i miss my dad.  it has been a while since he and i took a hike together.  i have fond memories of exploring the wilds (the bush we sudburians call it) around my house, camping and fishing spots with my dad for he is an observer.  after you spend a while in the bush you begin to realize that everything has a shape and a sound.  you can see a silhouette and know there is a partridge over there and listen to hear a beaver slap it's tail in warning.  you can know the rain is coming when the silver maple turns over her green leaves to shine silver. you can count between lightening strikes and thunder to estimate how far the storm is away. you can tell a red and white pine from each other by their structure but also from the smell of their sap.  a blue jay sounds very different than a cardinal and you can eat this but not that.  these observations epitomize the concept of 'being present' to me.  To notice what time the sun set or remark upon which flowers are in bloom is to be present in this time and space, for you are one with everything.  This everything asks nothing of you it is always there, waiting to be observed, to be remembered.

Now it is I who points out everything i observe in the world around me.  I try to take the time my father did with me to share the gift of being present.  No one ever had to teach me to meditate.  If you sit in a meadow or on a riverbank and look around your mind is free to push away concerns and be instead be flooded with the simple truth that you are present here and now, with the birds and the bees, the grass and the trees.  I am not saying it doesn't take practice, for life is just that- a practice, I am saying that observation can require a little time so grant yourself permission to slow down and be un-busy for a moment or two.