I’ll admit it, I was feeling a bit blue today. Missing my children and grandchildren was the culprit for my melancholy mood. After puttering around the house for a while, bouncing from one project to the next without any sense of satisfaction, I decided to go outside and sit a spell. I took a word search book and one of my favorite magazines, “Mary Jane’s Farm,” to read, but before long, put both down. Couldn’t concentrate. So, I practiced what I do when I’m blue: sit, watch, and listen. What did I hear? Far away traffic sounds. A rooster crowing on a farm nearby. Grackles at my bird feeder saying jeeb, jeeb, jeeb very loudly. The whistling sound of the wings of mourning doves as they take flight when the grackles invade. My stomach growling telling me it’s lunch time. The wind rustling my hibiscus bush. What did I see? A tiny lizard watching me. A Sandhill crane preening in my driveway. Sparrows, mourning doves, and grackles, all vying for space at the bird feeder. A wasp in the carport making its way from one rafter to the next looking for a place to build a nest. Squinting, I saw a new colt running after its mom on the distant farm. Then, I looked up and saw the most gorgeous blue sky and the fluffiest clouds ever. The sight of those cotton candy clouds reminded me of the cloud game I played numerous times with my kids and grandkids. Did you also play this game, the one when you look intensely into the sky and pick out shapes in the clouds that remind you of anything familiar, or any animals or objects? We saw a lot of fish and dinosaurs in those clouds! My mother played that same cloud game with me when I was little. Before I knew it, I was remembering and smiling. I was renewed, rejuvenated, refocused. All it took was 10 minutes outside, in nature, and my blue mood floated away on those cotton candy clouds. So, if you are feeling blue or just having a blah day, take a few minutes and go outside. The time spent doesn’t need to be long, but remember to do nothing, but sit, watch, and listen. You will be amazed at the smallest things you notice, the unusual sounds you’ve never heard before, and the acute awareness of your senses. Give it a try and see what happens!
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
-Albert Einstein
