I want to pay better attention. I want to listen closer. I want to see more. My teacher resides indoors and outside, but also arrives via a book, This Is How A Robin Drinks (Essays on Urban Nature), by Joanna Brichetto. This magical book portrays all that nature offers to us if we can only slow down, harness our senses, and pay attention. What nature teaches us isn’t just about the natural world. When we train ourselves to pause and listen to birds, cicadas and bees without interruption or judgment, we are learning how to do the same with people. When we take the time to closely examine a butterfly or a flower, we are discovering how to see the uniqueness of individuals, the intricacies of architecture, the details of paintings. When we learn to really pay attention, we are understanding what it means to be fully present. To be aware of what is real in each moment, without letting our meddlesome minds activate all its filters of beliefs, bias, judgment, etc.
This quirky book pulses with curiosity, radiates with humor, and sighs with bittersweet sadness and compassion.
“Hearing bats in our backyard was a big deal, especially when for twenty years we didn’t know we had bats”
“Watching a bumblebee fall asleep at dusk and wake at dawn under the same milkweed leaf six days in a row? Big deal.”
Watching a spotted orb spider spin her enormous web, eat her enormous web.”
-Examples of the author paying attention
