Sunday reads ~ Hints Of Life

Spring is on everyone’s mind and rightly so. It is the season of new beginnings. Soon the earth will come to life with fresh bud blooms, animals awakening from long hibernation and sun shining bright. Farmers and gardeners will plant their seeds and temperatures will slowly rise.

Color, vigor, enthusiasm and outdoors will be the highlights of the coming season. Life will sprout in every corner, rainbow will color the blue sky and laughter will eco in every park, garden, field and street. 

Today, Hints Of Life share’s ‘The Listening walks’ by Vijayalakshmi Abhishek. Walk along to witness the joys of nature in this heartfelt nature tale.

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The Listening Walks 

By Vijayalakshmi Abhishek

In order to spend time in nature one doesn’t have to go hiking up the mountain or camping or rafting or to some exotic vacation. That is always overwhelming and exciting, the most amazing aspect about nature is its accessibility. It’s ubiquitous.

Look up at the sky, you’ll find flocks of birds flying in synchronicity forming stunning patterns, a phenomenon of nature that amazes and delights those lucky enough to witness it. Look around you and you’ll witness the shades of colorful leaves in reds, yellows, orange and brown. Look down, there are squirrels running as fast as they can, climbing trees and eating nuts. Sometimes, finding a little patch of grass or flower in the concrete fills the heart with boundless joy.

Finding time to spend in nature and appreciate its beauty is time well spent with ourselves and our family. Mother nature has blessed us with abundance of grace and joy, all we need is to appreciate its beauty. For me the best way to spend time with nature is going on long walks.

Somedays, I go alone and other times I love to take my son along. We together go for walks and I love to call it ‘the listening walks’.

We walk in silence and try listening to the sounds around us. The tak-tak of his shoes, the crackling of leaves under our feet. We hear cars and a constant hum of traffic. Some cars are quite and some are extremely loud. We hear the bus door slide, making a puff sound. I often talk to my son about all sort of sounds we can hear around us.

There is a rail track close to our home and my son is very fond of trains. He stands still and watches the train move along making the clacking noise. He loves to pretend play the sound as the train passes by.

He often hugs the large trees as we walk by the blocks and we talk about how huge they are. After walking a few blocks, we reach our neighborhood forest park. While walking through the woods we hear the pigeons cooing and the crickets chirping in the grass. We hear the wind whispering as it whiffs between the lush green trees and the bees humming in the flowers.

Our family walks in the evening are fun. The nature looks alluring in the dark, we can spot the clear skies, the gleaming moon and the glint of stars. Listening to the crickets chirping on a warm summer evening is pure bliss, everything seems so quiet and calm.

It’s fun to go on a listening walk. You don’t have to go far. You can walk around the block and listen, you can walk around your yard and listen. You don’t even have to take a walk to hear sounds. We have sounds everywhere all the time. All we need to do is keep still and listen.

Vijayalakshmi Abhishek is a mother. She writes a compelling piece for us from Queens, New York. Follow her on instagram @vijayalakshmi_Abhishek.

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