Date: November 17, 2019

Time: 1:02-2:06

Temperature: 43

As I closed my eyes for the concentrated focus, I could hear some new sounds. I heard the sound of birds that I never heard before. It felt like they were communicating with one another in a beautiful way, just as humans talk to friends and close acquaintances. Some chirps were from a nearby treetop, some came from a distance. They were all coming from different directions. As their sounds mingled together, it felt like listening to a song. It was indeed music to my ears.

A lot has changed since I first came to my sit spot. The first few times, the surrounding was a bit greener, the environment felt a bit fresher. Now, as it is getting colder, I could see a lot more brown leaves on the ground. The leaves on the trees are all gone, except a bit here and there. The cut-open tree had company previously, tiny green plants surrounding it and few insects hovering around her. This time as I observed her surrounding, I saw that all the small plants were gone, and there were just a couple of insects surrounding her. As the temperature is decreasing sharply, I can tell that the number of insects are dwindling in number too.

When I opened my eyes, I felt pleasure in the silence of the trees, the falling leaves, the russet leaves covering the ground – the congealed relics of the autumn. I felt grateful to be surrounded by nature. I could still hear some distant birds chirping at times. As I closed my eyes, I could now focus on the sound more and in addition to that, I could also imagine the places that I looked around when my eyes were open. This helped me a lot with my concentration. When my eyes were closed, I could connect with the nature more; the sounds clearer and I could also imagine the surrounding around me more vividly.

I wanted to focus on the tree in my sit spot. The bark of the tree is smooth and creamy pinkish-white with exfoliating curly papery sheets. I researched about it a bit more, and found out that it was birch! The sheets covering the bark was more in quantity this time. The papery sheets were very mysterious to me so I wanted to look into this more. The first few minutes, I could not find any difference but then I went ahead and tried looking underneath the papery sheets. There I could find a couple of insects. They were extremely tiny! Had I not tried this, I would have never guessed what lied underneath.

Focusing on the nature and letting go of the jumbled thoughts crowding my mind was indeed therapeutic. I felt like I was in a deep state of relaxation and tranquility. Every time I closed my eyes, it felt liberating to sit there mindful amongst other creatures. The aftermath of this experience felt persistently calming and relaxing.

 

-Binika Rijal