‘What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’, reads the opening couplet of the poem ‘Leisure’ by William H. Davies.

That ponderous line packs so much; it tugs at your elbow, nudging you to stop pounding the keyboard and look out. Simply stare at the open horizon that the closed window throws at you – even if it is another bleak building or a slice of a rugged mountain.

In the daily hustle, with time at a premium, making time to ‘stand’ and ‘stare’ is a necessity for some, a luxury for those preoccupied with work, family and whatnot; and a hindrance for the ones who believe in letting life roll by in a brake-free zone.

While the poet prods us to make time to check out the boughs and the grass and the streams and the smiles, in the present day context that may come across as a diktat to incorporate mindfulness and hush the mental chime; a call to abdicate the bling throne of ‘care’.

It’s a tough ask, though.

With mind skittering across several open windows on the computer, the stand and stare is a bold substitute for ‘shutdown’ or ‘restart’. For the mind is a cauldron of thoughts – both connected and unconnected – it can zoom in on a stray, flittering thought and then shift focus in no time to nurse another one that entered the zone without a hint.

It is so easy to give in to the urge to let our minds stray; to let it indulge thoughts that pester us to do this and complete that. 

Mindfulness, like everything else in life, is a cultivated habit. One needs to consciously develop it to find peace in all that the nature has to offer. It’s a difficult proposition amidst the cacophony of thoughts that hold every whim to ransom.

Perhaps, each one of us has a spot, a designated place, where we love to stand and stare to fluidly commune with nature and add newer paradigms of richness to our lives.

As the last line of the poem states: A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare!