I’m training my musical ear.

Regular readers know I’m a fan of our feathered friends. And I’ve sometimes referred to their songs.

Here in the Netherlands, each morning I’m taking a regular walk in some woods by a lake right next to where we stay. It’s springtime and the birds are in full song. But, truth be told, my knowledge of their songs is very limited. I’m still a beginner.

So I’m taking my time as I walk, stopping regularly, and trying to pick out the different tunes and connect them to their singers. It’s a very slow process. Almost everything I do is a slow process at the moment.

Learning to slow down is a slow process.

But I happen to think that what I and the whole world need right now, more perhaps than anything else, is a reclaimed and restored inner decelerator.

Getting everything fast, doesn’t seem to be doing us much good.