A Sensitive Stroll

To love, we need to be sensitive to those around us, which is impossible if we are always racing through life engrossed in all the things we need to do before sunset.

-Eknath Easwaran-

The other evening, I stepped outside and started to walk around our backyard. I often appreciate the flowers there, but don’t always pay them much more than a glance. I was struck by all the late bloomers I was seeing at this point in the summer. I call myself a late bloomer and a slow learner. I titled my website and this blog “A Late Bloomer Living Gratefully.” It’s who I am and what I strive to do.

This evening, I was pulled into more observation and acknowledgement of what I was looking at. I captured these blooms and my phone tells me they could be coneflowers and plantain lilies. It’s nice to honor them with names. Most importantly, I honored them with my gaze and appreciation, and a few moments of my time.

It was evening and I had been “racing” around on a busy day. I have learned that a simple pause, a couple of inhales and exhales, an intentional slowing of my pace, can be enough to help me downshift and tune into the gifts at hand.

The words of Eknath Easwaran resonate in such moments and they are good words to take to heart and let them bloom there. Being sensitive to those around us includes other humans for sure, but it also includes flowers and trees and all creatures and living things with whom we share this space and time. This fleeting speck of time.

I would much rather be engrossed in a stroll around our yard in the early evening than still be adding to my to-do list.

I would much rather pay you, and these flowers, the compliment of acknowledgement than be too busy to take a break.

To love, be sensitive. To love, we can use our senses to see and hear one another. To listen and connect. Belonging builds from there, and so does the good energy.