Stocking up

As the sun rose this morning, I sat outside - absorbing the incredible noise of birdsong all around me, the warmth of a new windless day, the feeling of peace and quiet before all the neighbours (and my household) got going for Friday.

I even tried to capture the sounds I heard, the things I saw on my digital camera's video option. But it's simply not the same. It doesn't pick up the lustrous texture of the wydah's long tail feathers, the beat of goose wings in the still morning air, the dive of swallows and swifts or the cautious chirping of a karoo lark. I'm still amazed that after 10 years in one home I continue to see new birds and find new things to experience in the world around me.

That peace and stillness was much needed this morning. It stocked up an inner reserve that gets rapidly depleted when I rush in to work these days. By 9 this morning I already had a headache from noise and stress, and perhaps a little "coming down with something" that I felt while walking yesterday. Colleagues are sitting around chatting and laughing - but I'm running. Fax machine, photocopier, updating website, redoing brochures with the most current info, sorting out individuals and their issues... it's a never-ending circle of to-do lists.

And when all of that strikes, I draw on the inner quiet I've built up during those first few minutes of the day. I take a deep breath, conciously shed the tension that tries to congregate inside me, and mentally drink from the cool dark waters of the pool that feeds my soul. I refocus - not on work, but on the sense of contentment and joy I've felt in recent weeks, remembering and reclaiming the warmth it brings.

If I didn't stock up on peace when it presents itself, I wouldn't cope half as well...

::update::
You know when you have so much to do that you simply grind to a halt and stare at it in disbelief? I've reached that point. Overwhelmed. So for the last hour of my working day I'm going to underwhelm. I've certainly earned it.