When I sit, allowing awareness to de-focus and spread wide, I often notice chirping thoughts. They pop up unasked for, and are often repetitive. I label them annoying.

I asked Rupert Spira about this yesterday afternoon. At the time of the meeting, a chain saw was growling steadily in the distance. He drew our attention to the sound, and pointed out that although we heard it, it held no meaning, and didn’t draw our focus. It was like wallpaper–not there to attract attention, but to serve as background.

Like many of us, our culture and my parents hammered into me that being productive and busy has value; stillness does not.

Today, as love and ease grow with simply “being aware of being aware,” chirping thoughts fall back, and delicious, open knowing fills the foreground.

© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2014
photo credit: chirping bird