Wander. Wander to a safe place where you can let your thoughts expand. This can be on a park bench down the street. Under a tree in your backyard. In a room with a window where you can see the sky or a tree outside. Walking down a long street when few or no people are around.
Look around. What do you see? A bird flying from tree to tree. A pigeon pecking at the sidewalk. A couple walking hand in hand. A homeless person shuffling their feet as they push their shopping cart through a park. Kids playing. A boat drifting in the wind. A squirrel digging for that peanut they buried last week.
Listen. What sounds do you hear? Birds singing. People talking. Kids yelling with joy. The wind rustling newly bloomed leaves or leaves left over from the fall. Is that a fog horn from a ship or a truck honking at a car in the distance?
Feel the air surrounding you. Is it dry? Damp? Cold? Warm? Does it feel delicious on your face? Or does it sting?
Breathe. Breath is important now, as it always has been. What do you smell? Nothing – also called freshness? Exhaust from a truck? Pine scent from the tree you are sitting under? The perfume from a person who walked by ten minutes ago? Are you near the ocean? Can you smell the salt in the air? Is there a sulphur smell of rotting seaweed? Do you know what dirt smells like after a rain?
Bring your awareness away from your self. Experience your surroundings through all of your senses. Breathe into that awareness. Eyes can be closed or open, unfocused. There is no judgement. All worry seeps out of you into the awareness that you are secure in your environment. Learn what it feels like to be a part of what is around you. You are part of greatness.
Sit here for as long as you need, trust your knowing. If you are inclined, write your observations into a note app, or into a notebook. I like the physical activity of pen to journal. If you only have your phone app, try to rewrite it into a journal at a later time. Keep these thoughts in a sacred place. In the future, you will find that you will want to go back and read these observations. Or you may want to burn them to release them. But let’s wait a while before we begin burning things. That may come later.
With love and respect.
Rebecca Francesca Reuter Puerto 