Paying Attention

From my old website in 2002, it still seems applicable today.

It is amazing to me how fast time flies by.  I know it is an old cliché but one that fits just the same.  It has been over a year since I left Minnesota knowing I would be changing residence.  Whenever I reflect on things past I am surprised at how it can seem like “it was just yesterday” and “a lifetime ago” all in the same moment.  In many ways I feel like a completely different person, yet I know I am the same.  (That in itself can be a scary thought.)  This year I have been trying to pay a bit more attention to the little things and when a friend informed me about a class on paying attention I thought I would check it out.  I have been surprised at how difficult it is to pay attention to only one thing at a time without allowing your mind to wander.  One of the difficulties many of us have is just allowing ourselves to be quiet.  One of the things I do to forget about me and just be part of the universe.  I love to watch the sunsets here. 

I can remember when I lived in Northern Minnesota and my work took me on the road traveling between three different counties.  Most of the traveling was between 3:00 pm and 10:00 pm, I thought they were the most beautiful sunsets.  I think what mattered is that I actually saw them and paid attention to them.  I have noticed much more about sunsets since I’ve been in Sedona.  First of all, when I watch a sunset here, I am not driving to or from someplace.  I am sitting on a big stone or a hay bale, in an open field attempting to look at it from all angles.  Quite often I may head out alone and more often then not I will find someone there or someone will come and join me.  If I’m not alone we seldom talk.  It is a quiet time with an occasional ohh or ahh look at that!  On a few occasions people have brought over drums and played throughout the sunset.  I usually find myself on a large boulder dancing during those occasions.  It is one of the most beautiful times of the day, especially right now during Monsoon season.   

Until last year (that would have been 2001) I had never realized the beauty clouds add to a sunset.  They make it special as they are the canvas used to display all of the colors.  I have never seen so many colors as in the sunsets here.  The purples, pinks, oranges and grays are exuberant, then add in some greens and yellows and you have a spectacular painting/sunset.  

Another thing I pay attention to more often is the moon.  I seldom look at the full moon anymore without wanting to howl.  It is an awesome feeling to just let out a great big howl when you see the moon come up over the mountain.  It is a wonderful release of energy and thankfully I am in a place where others will join in or simply accept that I enjoy doing it.  Of course I am not the only one who will begin the howling.  We have a little girl that lives in the park, I think she is two-years old.  Whenever she sees a big moon she will let out a little howl.  It is so much fun to live so close to nature.  I notice things I seldom took the time to notice before.  

One day I was down at my friend’s pool, he was working, and after a nice cooling swim I simply sat and listened.  I counted seven different birds chirping within a matter of a minute or two.  Watching ants can be pretty awesome as well.  In front of the office during quiet times I may sit and watch ants carrying these huge pieces of food.  Watching them carry something as large as they are over what appear to be huge boulders (to them) and how they just keep on going is pretty inspiring.  These weird little creatures that can be so annoying to us, have so much strength I am sure we can learn from them.  (In Animal Medicine, I have since learned Ants represent patience, group thought and endurance.) There are so many awesome looking bugs in the desert.  The scary part is that some of them are poisonous.  I have noticed numerous bugs I had never seen before, everything from a Rhinoceros Beetle to a spider with a red furry back.  No one knows what that one is.  A friend of mine says the more brilliant their coloring the more dangerous they are.  I don’t know where he learned that, but who am I to argue. (I've been in Sedona AZ 12 years now, and the bugs, spiders and snakes are not nearly as scary as I once thought.)

So for the sake of your mental health and the pleasure you can receive, take the time to pay attention, and notice all of the simple wonders around you every single day.  Enjoy a sunset, a bird chirping, the wind blowing or the laughter of a child.

In Gratitude,

Linda G