Silence and Mindfulness
This is the oldest of the three seats on my morning walk, beside the quietest of the lakes. There is very little activity here. The water is almost silent, the trees and greenery barely move, and there are few sounds to compete for my attention. Sitting here, I become aware of how little sensory information is reaching me. I am almost alone with my mind.
A photograph comes briefly into my thoughts. My wife, our daughter and I are sitting on this very seat a couple of years ago. Our son, whom we lost to cancer, is absent from the photograph. He loved walking in this forest with his sister, identifying plants, flowers, trees, birds, insects and fungi.
The memory comes and goes.
There is no sadness now, and no grief. Only acceptance, gratitude for a life well lived and the love we shared. Then even that thought disappears.
What remains is something I have come to recognise whenever I sit here: calmness. Almost no thoughts. No worry. No agitation. No restlessness. Just sitting beside the silent water.
Tanka
silent water rests
old trees stand beside the lake
one memory comes
love remains when grief has gone
then the mind becomes still