A question of noticing
Hi folks, I hope you are doing ok?
This week Karen was supposed to be writing something on being female, but since we have just done a fair bit on gender, we thought we might kick that down the road until September, so today’s reflection, is based around some thoughts by Nadia Bolz-Weber.
Maybe you can remember the beginning of the pandemic, when we were all staying at home and going for our daily exercise. You may remember that many people started to notice nature… particularly the birds… apparently at that time people were googling “are the birds getting louder’?
Recently I went on retreat, it was organised by a bunch of lay employees across the North, it was the second time I had attended, this year I helped to put some of the program together, we wanted to create plenty of space across the couple of days to let people rest, recuperate and to connect with each other, the environment and the divine.
I have realised in recent years that I am much more of an introvert than I first thought, the pandemic taught me that. Don’t get me wrong, I still prefer to be around people, but i’m beginning to recognise I need space. Over the couple of days away I spent a fair bit of time by myself, I especially loved walking around the gardens and particularly the large labyrinth (pictured).
I noticed that it took me ages to switch my brain off… I found it was cluttered with all kinds of thoughts. I found I was thinking about work: should I have said that, done that? Food: maybe I should cut down on this or that? Worrying about Karen, my mum, Karen’s parents, my brother, friends… not to mention things like the environmental crisis and world war breaking out as a result of the situation in Ukraine! All of these things seemed to dance together conspiring against me from stopping, and allowing me to just ‘be’.
This is backed up by neuroscientist Judson Brewer who says we have two basic networks in the brain.The Narrative Network this is the one we default to and has its uses (in the narrative network our brain can plan and strategise), but about 50% of the time, our brain is occupied with the self; thoughts of self, events in the past, and anxieties or fantasies about the future. Rumination of the narrative mind rarely result in serenity. That’s often how I feel, and maybe you can relate!
Back to Judson Brewer, he also suggests that when the Direct-Experiential Network part of the brain is active, rumination ceases and we become engulfed in what is happening in the present moment. While on retreat I did notice moments when that was the case: while deliberately walking the labyrinth, while deliberately stoping and listening I ‘heard’ the birds, I heard nature itself, it was often fleeting, but never-the-less I heard. These were mindful moments and I have tried to do that more… this extrovert that loves noise and distraction has begun to stop… and just be… who knew!!
So the birds are singing whether we notice it or not. Hearing them is a pleasure we can ignore or indulge in. But it is difficult to tune in and pay attention if I am also wondering why someone isn’t returning my text and that it’s probably because they just don’t love me anymore after I said that stupid thing last week.
All this reminds me of Matthew 6 when Jesus says,
“Do not worry about your life, ….Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
When Jesus spoke about the cost of worry I do not think it was a coincidence that he said look at the birds and consider the flowers. And I think it’s more than him saying “look, literally birds are better at trusting God than you are”!
I think maybe Jesus gets that the beautiful things that surround us are meant to be enjoyed today – and they are the exact same things I totally miss out on when I am busy worrying about tomorrow. I guarantee that if I am in my head about something, the last thing I will notice is if a bird happens to be singing around me – and the second to the last thing I will notice are probably the flowers. Although I am getting better at noticing the trees!
So I like to think that Jesus’ thing about not worrying and then inviting us to consider birds and notice lilies ….is both permission to let go, and an invitation to joy and even pleasure.
An abundance of direct-experiences are available to us through our senses and while I’m an admittedly terrible at stopping the noise in my house, I also happen to be desperate for some relief from self-obsession, and the distractions that stop me from noticing, so I am trying to realise when I am “in my head” and to then drop into my body and feel for what, in this moment, there is for me to hear – to see – to touch.
This too, is itself, a prayer.
Some questions
What’s your favourite bird or flower?
What do you remember most about your lock down daily walk?
When was the last time you really stopped?
Do you have strategies to help you stop?
How can this passage support those with mental health difficulties (Karen hated it when she had chronic anxiety)?
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.