As spring approaches in my part of the world, I am noticing the sound of machinery again — the harsh noise of leaf blowers and the roar of lawn mowers, and the banging of construction and such that just happens to start up when I go outside to enjoy the peace and quiet.

I find this particularly annoying when I am not very still within myself and have had a challenging time in the past hour or so and just want a few minutes to breathe, or meditate or be with nature and hear my guidance.

It is then that I wonder, what ever happened to brooms for sweeping off decks . . . and rakes for removing leaves from the grass and what if we didn’t have lawns anymore and everything was kept natural with low maintenance vegetation, and flowers and trees and more?

My husband, Mike, inspired this idea when he was simply sweeping the leaves off our deck this past weekend.

Our neighbor constantly blows off his deck with the leaf blower. Sometimes I don’t even notice, but other times the noise reminds me of someone who is very angry (and perhaps he is and is venting while doing his chores).

I encourage you to look at how you can cut down on noise pollution in your backyard or garden or even inside your home or apartment. Newer technology is also bringing us quieter machines for inside our home.

I don’t have all the answers, but it is a good place to look and be curious. We plan to do away with the small amount of grass we have and replace it with natural substances that don’t require maintenance or fertilizers or pesticides.

In the long run, this will save us time and energy and also help the environment.

And when we all do things like this, it will also assist in our own stillness and peace of mind.

In the meantime, enjoy the One Minute Meditation to bring you peace of mind in the here and now. If you have been out of practice with this, you may need to listen a few times a day for a few days, until you are able to access that state of stillness we long for.

There is a video that I created a while ago, which is now posted on my blog to help guide you along. https://thesentelligentsolution.com/video-the-one-minute-meditation.