It is not always easy to follow this advice, but since I started yoga, walking with a mantra, taking Zumba classes, and trying to live a more awake life, I have found it is easier to pay attention and slow down during my life and my writing. Sometimes my life even inspires my writing.
I always love the spring because of the flowering trees. With distance learning, I have been able to capitalize on walking around and taking in nature. For the first time ever, I feel like I have been able to watch the buds appear on the leaves and see the world transform.
I do enjoy spending a little extra time observing the flowering trees. Magnolias and Cherry Blossoms are my favorite. This one afternoon, it was particularly windy. My hair was flying all in my face and I almost opted not to continue my walk. But, I pulled my hair tight in a clip and pressed on. When I reached the Magnolia, the tree swayed, the branches waved, and the petals danced. Inspired, I starred as if in a trance. Paying attention and slowing down.
As I let me mind empty and peace fill in the space. My mind became open to creativity. The more I stood observing those trees, the more I wanted to include them in the story I have been working on. Twirling wisps of consciousness started to form: Ideas began to take shape. I let that openness linger in me and walked to my car. There I sat with the sun pouring in and recorded a few lines onto my phone. I didn’t want to forget my thoughts. I spoke, “The wind whipped her face: her googles protected her eyes” and “At the horizon pink and white flowering trees swayed in the churning wind. The branches waved, speaking to Techa of a lost time, of a last person: her father.”
