Noticing: Stand Still

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you

Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

Must ask permission to know it and be known. 

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,

I have made this place for you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows

Where you are. You must let it find you.

David Wagoner

I have always loved to walk in the woods. There is a world of life and spontaneity that exists all around me, independent from my knowledge and awareness. Wagoner invites us to be still, let down our guard and simply be in the presence of this other life. It's not a garden, but a forest. It's perfection is not in symmetry. Nobody takes down the ruined trunk or plants a new sapling, or straighten ups nature's mess. "Here" is a "powerful stranger" and awaits being in relationship - broken and shattered stand beside the enduring and strong. "Stand still. The forest knows where you are."

I love being given the permission to quiet my monkey mind, focus my racing heart and open wide my eyes. Our minds are engineered to seek out patterns and to assign meaning to them. When I look at a person, I don't really see that person, I only think that I do. What I am seeing is something that I have fixed in my mind. I get an impression and I hold onto that impression and I keep looking at that impression. I do this with almost everything. I am going to practice standing still and ask permission to "know it and be known." 

Posted by Annette Schmeling, RSCJ