This is the view outside my kitchen window. Beyond the tree is an athletic field and a walking path that winds around it. To the north of the field is a small woods where I love to walk. Though with the snow we’ve had it’s made it hard to get to the woods and so I’ve not been there in some time.

Working from home and as much as I love my writing cottage and hibernating in the winter, this time of year as we edge toward spring I can begin to feel a bit antsy. I’m ready for more color and warmer temperatures.

But there was something about this view out the window that called out to me after I came home from a walk several times around the walking path. I was feeling a bit down with the weather of cold and no sun and realized this view was reminding me to appreciate what is right now. It was as if the tree was reminding me to appreciate this time of quiet and stillness that winter brings with it.

Soon enough kids will be riding their bikes down the path laughing and yelling out to each other, I’ll hear neighbor dogs barking again, church bells ringing, and lawnmowers humming. And I will welcome this.

But I was also thinking about how when I walked round and round the path how I relished the quiet. The only thing I heard was a lone crow call out and the wind rustling through the pine trees. Just being out in nature was so uplifting. 

It was a great reminder to enjoy the here and now…and just like the end of summer when my ears will be wishing for quiet, I’ll remind myself then too to enjoy what is right now because soon enough the stillness will come once again.

And I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the faster the seasons seem to come and go. So it seems to me practicing this being in the present is really the best gift we can give ourselves every day.

xo,

Barbara