>>Don’t forget the sounds of spring either! Every field and hedge was alive with birdsong. Leave the iPod at home and just enjoy what nature turns on for free. Listen to your feet on the stones, the wind in the trees, distant bells, sheep. Hear your own breath. You will almost burst with happiness - or maybe even song!>>
I love your post. Everyday life (Sydney) is so noisy, especially now as I type, I am having a swimming pool taken out of my backyard/garden and three hydraulic drills have been going full-pelt for three days now. I know I use noise, tv, etc. just to drown out my thinking
I thought you might like this:
One day the Buddha held up a flower in front of an audience of 1,250 monks and nuns. He did not say anything for quite a long time. The audience was perfectly silent. Everyone seemed to be thinking hard, trying to see the meaning behind the Buddha's gesture. Then, suddenly, the Buddha smiled. He smiled because someone in the audience smiled at him and at the flower. . . . To me the meaning is quite simple. When someone holds up a flower and shows it to you, he wants you to see it. If you keep thinking, you miss the flower. The person who was not thinking, who was just himself, was able to encounter the flower in depth, and he smiled. That is the problem of life. If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.
--Thich Nhat Hanh
regards
lillypond.