I am not sure what is it about nature that can almost always realign my thinking.
Whether it is a beautiful azure blue sky in summer, tulips pushing their way through the warming soil in spring, awakening to snow falling in winter, or the nearby, yet out of sights calls of coyotes in the early morning hours of fall, my attention is immediately distracted away from whatever problem or stress that has been filling my mind.
Just last week my mind was muddled with whatever problems of the world I’d decided were mine. A power walk hadn’t lodged them. Washing a bathroom walls hadn’t pierced the walls around my thoughts. Deep breathing exercises just about made me hyperventilate. So I took my book outside, to sit in the sun and see if that would bring me back to a comfortable state of homeostasis.
As I read each word, my frustration level, with myself, was only growing until …
buzz, buzz, buzz …
I looked up to my hanging flower pot, and there a bee was happily doing what bees do with flowers
and I smiled
and I heard these words,
whatever is excellent or praiseworthy
think about these things
Now, I didn’t hear these words audibly, but from within a place that is beyond brain, deeper within.
Without conscious decision, I followed the instructions, thinking about that which is excellent and praiseworthy, counting my blessings … naming them one by one.
The list grew, and grew, and grew.
My eyes watched the bee dart from flower to flower, taking in the nutrients to live and grow and thrive as I was nourished by my memories of the excellent and praiseworthy things in my life.
I do not know how long I sat there,
book closed on my lap,
sun streaming in,
eyes focused on the little honey-maker
as my mind was being renewed with sweet thoughts …
itsawonderfilledlife 