I love the idea that we call out to each and form flocks. Yes to this here on substack for this moment in time. At the moment I am listening to the deep silence in a small pocket of forest in Kyoto on Yoshida Hill. It is markedly different to my life in Newcastle Australia where I also live in a forest that is never silent. Both are beautiful and alive.
Every forest unique, full of flocks of all kinds of beings, often making calls that fall below our hearing range but alive in the air nevertheless. May you find your flocks as you travel Bernadette
Beautifully written! I can relate to the lovely bird stories and cries. Birds for me, where I live are like a thread of connection and sanity in the natural world. I love them . Even now they tweet and cry as the dusk falls. Ahh ‘life is still abiding…‘ they speak to me.
Thanks Deb for this, and for providing homes for so many beings in your park where you have planted so many trees and bushes, a beautiful contribution to life abiding !
Hi Sally, as a fellow lover of words (and Australian bird songs😁) I was playing with commenting either, 'I'm so moved by this piece' or 'This post truly moved me, Sally'♥️ and figured that the first emphasizes my emotional response, and the 2nd highlights the power of the post itself. and I'm chuckling at myself now, as I want to share both, as ultimately both are true.
Not only do Australian bird songs make me feel so nostalgic, but the metaphor of how all sentient beings call out to each other is truly beautiful and moving. I'm so looking forward to being back in oz soon and immersing myself in the Aussie bird songs♥️🙏🕊️
Thank you Camilla, I am so excited for your return to Australia knowing how the birds, the scents, the light and the feel of the air will all welcome you home along with your loved ones. There is nothing like the Australian bird chorus at dawn!
Thanks so much for your very kind and sweet sentiments Sally. And what you say is so true. When we first moved to NYC I bought CD of Aussie bird songs as I missed them so much♥️🙏🏼🕊
“Dialogue happens. No longer a passive and numb bystander,” yes I feel the same regarding some communities on Substack; there’s a beautiful engagement.
Oh Sally what a beautiful reminder that we are part of the natural world and that to listen deeply is to connect and this yearning to be listened to is deep. Can we listen deeply to First Nations communities who still ache to be heard and their needs to be responded to? Can we listen to those we disagree with, with a wish to hear their stories? This, I believe is the challenge of these times.
Thank you Lody for extending what I have written to these questions and calls, so vital for these times. They are the challenge but also very much opportunities too
The first thing I thought of was listening to you play certain pieces of music over and over again on your piano many decades ago.( at my request and your generosity)Now I am listening to my husband do exactly the same thing. I think of joyous repetition and the comfort ,recognition and beauty and the opposite ,painful repetition. Like a see saw.It's impossible to stay only up as we see in the world at large right now. Thank goodness the birds continue their repertoire to buoy our spirits.
Oh Leonie I had forgotten this! It must be your destiny to live with piano players! the birds do practice their calls I think and improvise new ones, and yes their cries carry the full range of emotions that come with being in a world which is both beautiful and endangered
My mum, Judie, loveed the call of the butcher birds. I remember her telling me about visiting her sister, Marg in the Mallee and having listened to the butcher birds for a while she went inside and sat at the piano and picked out their tune.
I often find I am replying to the bird and animal calls I hear around me. It's not a conscious effort, more like a natural instinct to answer, to let the other caller know I heard, I'm here too, here we are now just singing out together. xox
Thank you for this beautiful post Sally, you wove seamlessly into my dreams. I read this on waking at 5, before dawn, read the questions at the end then lay back in bed to listen.
Right on queue a Tawny owl called across the field, calls travelling with long resonance. The owl and I listening to the sound travel before the next call came.
After some time a new call from another direction, slightly more frail sounding, perhaps an older or younger owl or just a different voice. They begin weaving their calls back and forth and in my part dream state I can see the sound travelling, the shapes it is making.
The owls are moving and calling, the sound shapes are swirling around my nest in the yurt. I drift off to sleep again with the thought - I have to share this with Sally! Thank you for waking up my ears for this moment!
i love this encouragement to listen to the birds & talk with the feathered ones, to pay strong attention to the natural world, to participate in it with joy. each in our own small way channelling avalokiteshvara, who hears the cries of the world and responds with compassion. when i walk around my nearby lake each evening, hanging out with kookaburras and white cockatoos returns me to presence, returns me to my life, and reminds me of my small big part of interconnection with all living creatures xxx
I love the idea that we call out to each and form flocks. Yes to this here on substack for this moment in time. At the moment I am listening to the deep silence in a small pocket of forest in Kyoto on Yoshida Hill. It is markedly different to my life in Newcastle Australia where I also live in a forest that is never silent. Both are beautiful and alive.
Every forest unique, full of flocks of all kinds of beings, often making calls that fall below our hearing range but alive in the air nevertheless. May you find your flocks as you travel Bernadette
Beautifully written! I can relate to the lovely bird stories and cries. Birds for me, where I live are like a thread of connection and sanity in the natural world. I love them . Even now they tweet and cry as the dusk falls. Ahh ‘life is still abiding…‘ they speak to me.
Thanks Deb for this, and for providing homes for so many beings in your park where you have planted so many trees and bushes, a beautiful contribution to life abiding !
Aww thanks Sal, yes as you know, it does make a difference!!
Hi Sally, as a fellow lover of words (and Australian bird songs😁) I was playing with commenting either, 'I'm so moved by this piece' or 'This post truly moved me, Sally'♥️ and figured that the first emphasizes my emotional response, and the 2nd highlights the power of the post itself. and I'm chuckling at myself now, as I want to share both, as ultimately both are true.
Not only do Australian bird songs make me feel so nostalgic, but the metaphor of how all sentient beings call out to each other is truly beautiful and moving. I'm so looking forward to being back in oz soon and immersing myself in the Aussie bird songs♥️🙏🕊️
Thank you Camilla, I am so excited for your return to Australia knowing how the birds, the scents, the light and the feel of the air will all welcome you home along with your loved ones. There is nothing like the Australian bird chorus at dawn!
Thanks so much for your very kind and sweet sentiments Sally. And what you say is so true. When we first moved to NYC I bought CD of Aussie bird songs as I missed them so much♥️🙏🏼🕊
“Dialogue happens. No longer a passive and numb bystander,” yes I feel the same regarding some communities on Substack; there’s a beautiful engagement.
so agree, every time I come on I see this happening, so heartening
Oh Sally what a beautiful reminder that we are part of the natural world and that to listen deeply is to connect and this yearning to be listened to is deep. Can we listen deeply to First Nations communities who still ache to be heard and their needs to be responded to? Can we listen to those we disagree with, with a wish to hear their stories? This, I believe is the challenge of these times.
We do a good riff together !
Absolutely! ❤️
Thank you Lody for extending what I have written to these questions and calls, so vital for these times. They are the challenge but also very much opportunities too
Yes definitely opportunities, as we rise to meet them. Thank you for that subtle reminder. 🙏❤️
The first thing I thought of was listening to you play certain pieces of music over and over again on your piano many decades ago.( at my request and your generosity)Now I am listening to my husband do exactly the same thing. I think of joyous repetition and the comfort ,recognition and beauty and the opposite ,painful repetition. Like a see saw.It's impossible to stay only up as we see in the world at large right now. Thank goodness the birds continue their repertoire to buoy our spirits.
Oh Leonie I had forgotten this! It must be your destiny to live with piano players! the birds do practice their calls I think and improvise new ones, and yes their cries carry the full range of emotions that come with being in a world which is both beautiful and endangered
My mum, Judie, loveed the call of the butcher birds. I remember her telling me about visiting her sister, Marg in the Mallee and having listened to the butcher birds for a while she went inside and sat at the piano and picked out their tune.
I often find I am replying to the bird and animal calls I hear around me. It's not a conscious effort, more like a natural instinct to answer, to let the other caller know I heard, I'm here too, here we are now just singing out together. xox
Thank you for this beautiful post Sally, you wove seamlessly into my dreams. I read this on waking at 5, before dawn, read the questions at the end then lay back in bed to listen.
Right on queue a Tawny owl called across the field, calls travelling with long resonance. The owl and I listening to the sound travel before the next call came.
After some time a new call from another direction, slightly more frail sounding, perhaps an older or younger owl or just a different voice. They begin weaving their calls back and forth and in my part dream state I can see the sound travelling, the shapes it is making.
The owls are moving and calling, the sound shapes are swirling around my nest in the yurt. I drift off to sleep again with the thought - I have to share this with Sally! Thank you for waking up my ears for this moment!
i love this encouragement to listen to the birds & talk with the feathered ones, to pay strong attention to the natural world, to participate in it with joy. each in our own small way channelling avalokiteshvara, who hears the cries of the world and responds with compassion. when i walk around my nearby lake each evening, hanging out with kookaburras and white cockatoos returns me to presence, returns me to my life, and reminds me of my small big part of interconnection with all living creatures xxx