Today is the first warmer day after a week that was bitterly cold. I am walking along the “Lake Werder” which is a side arm of our river “Weser”. Everything seems grey and only a few people are outside.
Something is different today than usual.
Something´ s in the air. Everything seems equally far and close, somehow the sound of the world is different.
Something is different – and although every cell of my body seems to understand this differentness it is incomprehensible for my mind. It is magical.
Even the sea gulls look different today as I´ m watching them swimming on the lake.
Wait! They aren´ t swimming. They are standing on the water. And if they are standing it means… it means… that…
Tacet. The lake is silent.
Today my brain takes very, very long to understand that the lake is still frozen. But because of the beginning thawing and a little bit of rain it is covered by a thin layer of water.
So easy. So logical. Still magical.
My insights:
- My awareness works along habitual trails. I am as tall as I am, front is front and back is back. Business as usual. What I´m missing when I only follow these trails is the relationship between things, the proportions. But this is where the action is. Try this:
– How do I experience my size in relation to the space around me?
– Can I hear the silence behind the sounds? See the empty canvas behind all colours?
– How do I experience my movements (e.g. shifts, bowing,…) in relation to the ground, the walls, the light, my breath…? - If one thing changes, everything changes. But am I aware enough to notice that?
Nothing is in this moment the way it was in the moment that just passed. I am not the same as I was before I wrote this paragraph. And you are not the same as you were before you read it. Do I encounter myself, others, my environment over and over again in a fresh and “virginal” way? - Natur can surprise us at any moment and is an inexhaustable source of liveliness.
Hiking. Walking. Sitting in the park. Opening the window. Stepping out of the door and sensing the weather. What do you hear? Which music creates itself inside of you? Do you live in a concrete jungle? Somewhere you will find a leaf of grass between the stones, a plant in an office, a moth in your organic cereal… Everything can be a source to connect to the liveliness of nature. - Never underestimate the power of stillness and dare to visit it more often.
I am standing at the bank. Stunned. I am experiencing this well known place in a completely different way: sound, perspective, light. Brown leaves are sailing from a tree down towards the earth in slow motion and the intensity of this movement in relation to the background of stillness takes my breath away.
