It is another gorgeous Autumn day in Melbourne. The sun is shining, the sky is a cloudless blue, the birds are chirruping cheekily as they flit from one tree to another and there is a delicious hint of tea tree floating on the cool breeze.  Someone some where is mulching tea tree branches and it’s fresh and invigorating.

I’ve been getting into the timelessness that comes when one has few work responsibilities (thanks to that fractured wrist of mine).  And its given me an opportunity to connect more with my own natural rhythms, and those of the world around me.  Everything has its own natural cycle, and with it, its own wisdom.  But until now I kept myself too busy to notice. 

Every afternoon, usually at about 3pm, my energy begins to slump, and my mind dives deeply into a pity pool.  I splash about lamenting the confines of responsibility, wishing I was free to be anywhere else and invariably reach for some chocolate or a coffee to provide the energy I lack.  Very yogic I know!  Today I hit the same low point but instead of fighting it, I gave myself the gift of 20 minutes in a beautiful park.  I went and bought a white nectarine, my favourite fruit at the moment and found a shady spot under a young sapling and let my senses take off.  It was time for my mind to let go of activity and doing and for my body to reconnect with being.  And the easiest way to do that I find is to reconnect with my senses.  I noticed colour, the way the light played with the trees, casting long shadows on the green lawns.  I felt the way the cool grass tickled my bare legs.  I listened to the birds chattering and the gentle hum of the traffic in the distance.  I focused on each sensation, one by one, immersing myself in each and then letting it go so that I could give all my attention over to the next sensation.  Then I closed my eyes and slowly bit into the nectarine.  Nothing else to do but enjoy the sweetness of it all- of the fruit and the moment.

After 20 minutes I felt energised and ready for the next part of the day.  So next time you hit a ‘low energy’ point, I invite you to find a quiet space, allow the mind and all the doing to take a break for 10 minutes, and let your senses reconnect you with life.  For when we listen to our rhythms, we invariably hear the answers we need.