Quiet Minds and Melodies

I found myself standing on a hill in front of a meetinghouse in a quaint town in New Hampshire, watching the trees sway in a summer breeze, as a quartet played classical music nearby. The sky was overcast, and a crowd had gathered to listen to the music while I took in the scene around me. It had rained earlier in the day and I remember thinking that the sky would once again open up at any moment. But it didn’t. The music danced among the wind and trees and I found that my soul was calm and my mind was quiet. A change from how it’d recently been.

As I let this feeling sink in, I thought back to the past few days. I hadn’t been feeling well and I didn’t know why. A coworker mentioned that I looked stressed and a lot of the time stress could make people feel unwell. After taking stock of my life as of late, I decided that I could do with a little mindfulness and relaxation. So I closed my eyes, let time slow, and smiled. I felt grateful for all the wonderful things and people in my life. I spent less time worrying and more time being present. And most of all, I was aware of how fleeting stress really is if only we loosened our hold on it.

After the concert, I snapped this picture of the meetinghouse as a reminder of its stark beauty against the backdrop of the cloudy sky.