Versus Blogspot: Six Senses

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Six Senses

As you know, it’s been a stressful time of late and I’ve realised I stress about stressing, which kind of makes for a vicious cycle! So I’ve made a point of going back to remembering my lessons in mindfulness, reading Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living, focusing on my breath and being more aware. And then, in that wonderfully synchronous way that things happen, I found this post over at Carol’s blog. It couldn’t be more appropriate to the moment. As Carol says, sometimes it’s important just to stop and remember what’s going on around us.

I can see
My Tigger mug, now empty of hot chocolate
The property section of the newspaper
Fluffy white clouds rolling across a blue sky
The leaves of the Australian Cherry Tree rustling in the breeze
The calendar created and sent to me by my wonderful blog buddy, Tessa, the Aerial Armadillo
A beaded red rose and a beaded sheep
Photographs and memories
My corkboard covered in synopses and images of my WIP

Beady eyed beaded sheep

The weekend's property section from the newspaper

Tessa's wonderful calendar

I can hear
The heating humming behind me
A hadeda ibis screeching in the sky
My fingers tapping on the keyboard
A guinea fowl ba-kaaking in the gum tree

Guinea fowl in his tree

I can feel
A chill in my bones as an early spring breeze drifts through the open door
The grip of my boots around my feet
The weight of my glasses on the bridge of my nose
The ache in my neck from too much stress

My corkboard...

I can touch
The keys of my keyboard
The smooth wood of my desk
The warmth of a newly brewed cup of tea
The wool of my sweater under my fingers

Photographs and memories

I can smell
Spring in the air
The winter jasmine which is still flowering
Warm dust wafting up from the heat of my computer
Paper and books
The remnants of chocolate on my fingers
The hint of vanilla in my empty chocolate mug