Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

During these years of Covid I’ve had lots of opportunity for solitude at home. Lately though I’ve noticed that it’s easy for me to fill up the quiet with music or podcasts or radio and tv programs. I have earbuds so I can seem quiet but inside I am miles away listening to a book or a program. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. However, I am aware that it does keep me from being  PRESENT . I listen to podcasts or a book while I’m getting the dinner ready, and I am entertained by and enjoy the content. However, it does distract me from actively paying full attention to whatever I am engaged with. Peeling  this  carrot or washing  this  dish. Perhaps I have become used to filling up all the spaces.     When I go out for a walk I’ve been listening to books on my phone. Enjoyable for sure but it distracts  me from being present to the walk itself. When I switch off, I can pay attention to the wind on my skin, to the texture of the bark on t...

As we step into the practices and  opportunities of this Lenten season I am aware that a whole year has gone by in our Covid reality. My nature appreciates solitude and my own company, but I do so miss my sisters. Even though I know they are close by and that I have lots of zoom and FaceTime opportunities, like millions all over the world I miss all the in person gatherings. My closest companions these days are the birds that flock to the seeds I put on my balcony. I have Chickadees, Cardinals, Woodpeckers , Juncos, Finches, Sparrows, Mourning Doves and the occasional Bluejay. I have learned  lots from these feathered ones this year.   How to take just what I need. How to share. How to take turns. How to stay  alert. How to just BE.   I think most of all they remind me of my own place in the great scheme of things. Like them I am but one expression of this sacred diversity of life. The birds, the trees, the lake awaken me to my small unique p...