The gift of Attentiveness

Joint Island centre’s gardener, Terry Over, shares his gratitude for task teams.

Bob Gilbert at the beginning of his programme week “Experiencing Nature” quoted the following line from the Mary Oliver poem “Sometimes”:

Instructions for living a life: Pay attention, Be amazed, Tell about it

It blessed me instantly, for that is exactly how I have striven to live my life within nature, and exactly what I want to convey to any guest or volunteer who joins me in the garden to share those common tasks.

When working in the gardens I often encourage my companions to “pay attention”, see the detail of life so close at hand; the texture of a leaf, the shape of a flower head, the movement of an insect, and thence the behaviour and colour of said invertebrate. For as we notice more, we notice more, and it becomes a habit that opens the wonder and astonishment of our natural world, so that it heals us is so many ways; this is the gift of attentiveness.

I am keeping a list of bird and animal sightings whilst I am here on Iona and Mull, but I am allowing myself to note only one creature per day – the bird, mammal or reptile that has captured my attentiveness the most, whether a sighting or sound. It is helping me to “be amazed” for longer as I dwell in its presence until it takes its leave. The gardens at Camas have been great thus far, having rewarded me with slow worm, common toads, adder and otter.

Maybe the long track to Camas – a deliberate journey with intent – makes me more aware or maybe it is simply the tranquillity and remoteness that provides the space to observe better. There is “difference” here – colour, history, ecology, movement, feelings.

Collecting seaweed to put on the raised bed is a task that activates the senses; the smell of the sea, the variety of shapes and colours, the movement & even the popping sound of the displaced sand hoppers.

On family walks I am always way at the back, usually with my youngest daughter, as we stop to look at, taste, watch, listen, imbibe, and take the opportunity “to tell about” that gift of nature that has nourished and taught me so much throughout my life. So, I encourage everyone to step outside, get into the garden or open spaces and embrace the instructions of Mary Oliver’s poem.

Terr Over – joint Island Centres Gardener