5. Distractions

Morning glories reaching for the loblolly pine in the fog.

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Before the light.

The early morning fog, the birds that are here and the birds that are missing, the heavy dew clinging to everything, and the pumpkin colors in the sky are whispers of autumn.  The heat and the deluge of mosquitoes and midges are part of summer’s tenacious hold, a refusal to give way to what will be.  Summer does not want to let go.  The scents brought by the faint breeze are still summery in nature, too.  Saltiness with hints of freshly mowed grass with an underlying floral scent.  Somewhere in there, maybe as a base note, is the earthiness of the fall season.

This morning’s sounds were brought to us by the letter C:  crows, cicadas, crickets, and catbirds.  I didn’t hear any geese, but the neighbor’s rooster did crow right on time.  He must have been watching the sky, too.  As the sun brought light to the day, a rather noisy tractor made its way down the road.  Most of the corn in the fields near us has been harvested.  The farmers work day and night during harvest time, and we’ll see the lights of the combines shining through the marsh grasses as late as 10:00 PM.  (There is a farm field on the other side of a portion of the marsh.)

A distraction from the sunrise.

On this fifth day of my Forty Early Mornings, my mind roamed all over the place.  I did about thirty minutes of yoga followed by about fifteen minutes of meditation.  The meditation involves one pointed awareness, where you focus on one thing.  In this case, I was focusing on the rise and fall of my breath (anapanasati).  Except when I wasn’t.  Thoughts would wander in and I would begin to walk off with them until I’d remember why I was sitting on the floor in easy pose.  I’d gently pull my attention back for a little while until another thought would come along.  It’s okay.  Some days are like that.

Just before the sun slipped above the treeline.

Programming note:  I’ll be posting a book review as part of a TLC Book Tour tomorrow and rather than subject you to two posts from me in one day (this daily posting is probably more than enough!), I’ll skip the Forty Early Mornings post.

Thank you for joining me for another sunrise.  Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Web in the rose bush. Seems a thorny place to live, don’t you think?

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  316)  Pumpkin colored sunrises.  317)  The one great thing about social media:  Photos and status updates of family and friends.  Especially family.  Especially my grandchildren.  318)  Breakfast talk and laughter.  319)  A morning swim.  320)  Moments of stillness.

The sky to the west was pink, not the orange of the east.