As the full moon was still in the sky, I set up the ladder and climbed up onto our carport before sunrise. I had been thinking how the view of the mountains and the sunrise from ‘up there’ must be nice — and boy, was I right! What I didn’t expect was the beautiful symphony of bird songs…

As I closed my eyes to begin my meditation practice, I found myself hearing one bird song, then another. I recognized my desire to open my eyes to SEE the bird who was generating this sound, or at least get a visual sense of where it was so that next time I might be able to see it. This is strangely similar to the thoughts that come and go in my mind. Some thought or idea comes in from out of nowhere, and rather than just note that it is there — sometimes I explore it, play with it, try and ‘get it’ and then after a bit of time, I realize I’ve been lured away from the present moment yet again (argh and smile at the same time).

If I choose to apply this gift from nature and treat my thoughts like the bird songs, I can just smile as they come and go, and enjoy the experience without having to identify the source of it or figure out where it’s coming from or what it means. For me, using this analogy helps the process of ‘letting go’ or ‘letting it be’ feel like a natural flow rather than so much work.