A Quiet Life
After Covid closed the door on living out loud, silence became a ghostly visitor haunting my coastal cottage home. It lurked in the shadows and peeked around the corners as I wandered aimlessly from room to room for no apparent reason but to do something, anything, to pass the time.
The eerie quietude rattled my nerves at first, but now the specter murmurs to me in tranquil tones. I find its soft whisper comforting during my peripatetic travels through the cottage and accept it as the peaceful presence that it is. I am growing fond of its companionship and the benefits of a quiet life.
Outside my window is a towering birch with wispy strands of twiggy branches bejeweled with drops of dew. Beyond that is a tall pine with needles sharply etched in the gray dawn, and farther still stands a maple, greening with the promise of warmer days. The scene is like a diorama in a shoe box with four, five, six layers of mature dense forest beyond, until high up in the hills giant spruce stand as shrouded guardians with leaden fog draped across their crowns.
Each tree is a stitch in nature’s tapestry, sewn into a mantle that cloaks the hillsides surrounding our little coastal town. The mantle is an embroidery of time, each tree a moment comprising the whole of the forest which has survived for centuries. Individual trees come and go but the forest remains. Every tree has its own experience in the forest’s ancient existence.
As I gaze into this forest through my window, it strikes me that I too am only a moment among moments. Like a tree in the forest, I am a cosmic event that will not last. My body will die, a single experience in a forest of events that make up the world in which I live. I am one stitch in nature’s tapestry of heaven and earth.
The din of the world clamored for my attention before the shutdown. Now I find that a quiet life has advantages. Living in secluded silence has tuned my ears to the specter’s voice. This whisper within has much to say, and I am grateful that I have new ears to hear its wisdom. It advises me to live each moment fully. It says that the moment can be lost in life’s rush, but when left to itself it brings peace of heart. Step away from the past. Do not be anxious about the future. Be present in the moment without judgment or desire. Share the moment in loving-kindness with all.
I have learned to let the quiet voice tell me the way. Like a tree in the forest, I need not worry about tomorrow. We are planted firmly in the ground of goodness. Each moment offers its best for us to accept or not. Whether you are a twiggy birch, a leafing maple, or a stately spruce, you can live fully by remaining true to yourself in every moment.
Living in the moment brings peace of heart. Without the din of the world clamoring for your attention, your inner wisdom is freed to guide you with its soft voice. Wisdom says that life is experienced in the present, not in the past or future. Live in the moment and life takes care of itself like trees in a forest naturally finding their abundance. To find your way, listen to your whispering companion. After escaping the din of the world, I now hear that voice and live a peaceful, quiet life thanks to the Covid shutdown.