A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare

by W. H. Davies

We are all so very busy. Busy with the business of busy-ness, that we do not give time just to be.

Someone read the W.H.Davies poem, Leisure to me recently and it reminded me how important it is to stop and just look out at the world. To allow the scenes that unfold before our eyes to be witnessed by self for no other reason that to be that witness and hold the scene. It matters little whether it is a scene in nature, people watching, looking at a painting or sculpture or the clouds as they move in the sky.

What does matter is that we are aware of our awareness, of “self” and what that self is thinking, feeling, experiencing in response to what our eyes are letting pour into our being.

In moments like this, of seeming quiet contemplation where I am not actually contemplating anything, just being and breathing, I sense glimpses of something more just beyond the edge of all that I see. It washes over me like a thrilling moment of otherness and openness. And if I truly let go, I have moments of merging into the environment so that self becomes part of the whole. I feel myself simultaneously expand and disappear.

I don’t know what this phenomena is, I don’t feel I need to know that but I know it is good for me. It quiets my mind and calms my soul and sometimes I see wonderful things that would have otherwise passed me by if I had not given myself to the moment and allowed the moment to extend out of itself.

Try it.

See what happens.

Share if you dare.