A Small Pause by the Water

Today we went to the park.

There is a loch there – water, trees around it, and a forest that makes everything feel a little softer. It was one of those gray days that aren’t cold, just quiet. Not much wind. Not much rain. Warm enough to stay.

We brought bird food with us. The floating kind, meant for ducks and swans. We stood by the water and fed them slowly, watching how they rushed to us, gathered, how the food drifted, how some birds were bolder than others.

Ducks, coots, moorhens – all moving in their own way, unbothered by anything beyond the weather in front of them.

The forest around the loch was full of sound. Birds singing, wings flapping, water moving gently. No traffic noise. No rush. Just layers of small living sounds that didn’t ask anything from me.

It was good to be there. To stand there and do something simple. To watch instead of think. To listen instead of explain. For a while my body relaxed before my mind did – and that was enough.

It didn’t solve anything.

But for a little while the world felt quieter.

And today that was enough.