Rushing around? You don’t know what you’re missing

Maybe you don’t even care? But I would imagine that if you’re here and reading this, then you’re likely to be one who does care.

For a long time I believed that being busy, working hard ALL the time and being stressed was a badge of honour and showed how successful you were. That time doing “nothing,” was laziness and empty space should be filled with doing at all times.

This past year, thanks to the pandemic, I’ve slowed right down and have had the time and space to notice. Notice the smell after a thunderstorm, the tiniest little bug and how their wings are rainbow coloured like stained glass in the sunlight. To hear the bird song and start to understand who is who. I no longer want to be that busy fool. It’s not what life is about. At least, not mine anyway.

So I was out for a walk with the camera again, on my way home down the road, and I spot a tiny Little Owl sat on the wall. She spotted me long before I spotted her. Maybe it was her staring at me that made me see her – you know that feeling you get when you’re being watched. I stood with her for a good 20 minutes. I placed my hands on the wall and closed my eyes.

She said, “Listen.” All is not as it looks. Though my eyes are large my hearing is my power. The power to listen.”

Thank you, dear owl.

Just then, two cyclists came huffing and puffing up the road behind me, and the moment was gone.

I thanked the owl and started to make my way down the hill. I have a hole in my right walking boot, and every now and then when it gets water in, it squeaks as I step. A fact the owl picked up on with much amusement to prove how powerful her hearing was.