Seijaku

I have my window down in my car as I pull to a stop at the light. Music blaring, inhaling exhaust fumes, horns honking, sirens wailing, in a chaotic moment my eyes catch something everyone else has missed. A pair of birds in a nearby tree tending to their nest of young ones, they seem unaware of the confusion around them, focused only of their task. Stopping here, and there, and everywhere during my busy blurring day, what do I see? I see the little things, the ones you normally pay no mind too. A butterfly, floating on a whirlwind and landing on wildflowers growing through concrete cracks during rush hour. A hummingbird, going from home to urban home looking for a nectar feeder, oddly looking at satellite dishes as possible sources. A leafcutter bee, chewing what it needs for nesting material from an overgrown leafy plant in a suburban parking lot. One day melts into another, hardly noticing the difference. The clouds, the sun, the breeze that blows your hair, calling to you. It whispers something to your heart, "step back and breathe the life of everything surrounding you, use your senses". Sitting in my garden, I see birds tending their nest of young ones, they are always welcome here. Sitting in my garden, I see a floating butterfly landing on flowers, you are always welcome here. Sitting in my garden, I see a hummingbird drinking nectar from my bright colored feeder, you are always welcome here. Sitting in my garden, I see a leafcutter bee filling a tube made of reeds to protect their offspring, you are always welcome here. A sanctuary begins in one's own mind, you are free to construct and create from all that is, was, and will be. Welcome......