Hush

Sometimes my mind is so busy that all I hear is the chatter of my own sober thoughts.  But while taking a walk recently, a wise old oak tree helped me to stop my mental talk in its tracks (reluctant as it may have been to go) and to return to the moment.  The wind had picked up just as I walked by the tree.  Her dried brown leaves, still stubbornly clinging to the ends of her limbs, started to rustle, admonishing me to "Hush!". The tree's whisper snapped me out of the prison of my thoughts and into the restful place of Now.  Since then, every time I get caught up in my thoughts, I remember the beautiful, old oak tree's message to me and I come back to the present with a new sense of calm and peace.