A note from Carl:
On Monday morning, Erin and I were sitting together on bench in front of our house, deeply enjoying a cup of coffee. It was the first sunny morning after days of rain, and as the light was beaming in over the top of the Wasatch mountains, a tiny yellow finch feather began to float down in the space in front of us. So small, so delicate, almost lighter than air, it floated down for what seemed like minutes. It would slowly drop, an then be lifted an inch or two by some invisible force, then seemingly pause for a moment, suspended, and continue on its slow descent. Each time the feather was lifted, I could hear each of us have a tiny gasp of wonder. Eventually, it made its way to the ground. We sighed, then laughed with delight.
As Michael Meade says, what we need is not more time, we need more moments of timelessness.
Here we were, on a Monday morning, with the house a mess as we had been away teaching all weekend, a sense of too much on the plate and not enough time. And yet here was this finch feather, inviting us into the vast expanse of the timeless.
As Mary Oliver writes, “This is the first, wildest and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness.”
May your attention open moments of timelessness right smack in the fullness of your life.
-Carl
And speaking of attentiveness, Erin’s class on the Art of Attention, A Month Of Invitations Inspired By The Poetry of Mary Oliver, is open for registration and will be so awesome! We’re so excited for this course and a deep dive into embodied mindfulness, reverence, and appreciation.
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