The gift of attention

Thank you Spring for entering my life at just the perfect moment! I really needed your clear skies and soft light and the gentle nudge nudge nudging of tiny green life reaching up around me. I've waxed on and on (see here or here) about my love of this faire season, but seriously, what is not to love about spring? It is an insta-cure for the funk and blahs of winter and it is giving me a much needed energy boost. I've been mired in what feels like a complex life recently, and I feel so reassured watching Nature unfold and gain momentum all around me, doing it without question and in such small, subtle increments. Maybe I've just been on some sort of hibernation/auto pilot winter mode myself, pushing up in my own tiny increments toward the warmth and sun again?

As I was out turning the soil in the garden today, I stood and watched a hawk doing concentric circles in the sky; going ever higher then gliding back down. It was mesmorizing watching its wings beat and realizing that the motion requires so much effort, a constant jumpity flap flap. I'd never sat and stared like this at a bird in flight, allowing myself to be transfixed until the hawk flew out of view up the canyon. What a gift attention is and what a gift it feels like when I can capture it in my own cluttered mind. It is such a big, fast paced world out there. And in the mania of screens and tech and rushing around, it is so easy to just fail to notice the small details and even harder to just stay in the moment at hand. But taking the time to really look is such a wonderful source of relaxation and awe. I think that is why I work hard (perhaps even subconsciously) to cultivate hobbies and habits that actually take time instead of save it. I have learned to love the 10 minutes it takes me to knead my bread dough because in those 10 minutes there is nothing else I can be doing. I stand in the kitchen and mellow. I think gardening is a great hobby for these modern days because it forces patience--there is no short cut or fast forward button. You just have to wait and see, water and hope. My Dad and my little family are raising bees for honey this summer and I'm hoping this hobby will turn out to be much the same, a delightful waiting game and an opportunity for all of us to unwrap more little gifts of attention.

I'm not a religious person so I've never truly observed a Sabbath day, but I really love the idea of having a set day in your week to rest and encourage a change of pace, whether it be to worship or just to avoid doing what you normally do. I was intrigued to learn that Sabbath comes form the word shabbat which in Hebrew means "to cease". I learned this nifty little tidbit from a very cool web initiative called Sabbath Manifesto, which aims to help people slow down and unplug every week. I love the ten principles they came up with to help encourage a weekly time out:

Avoid Technology

Connect with Loved Ones

Nurture your Health

Get outside

Avoid commerce

Light candles

Drink Wine

Eat Bread

Find Silence

Give Back

I think I would like a day each week that had me following that gospel. Between sabbath and spring, I think I'm saved! Hallelujah.