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Relaxing Forest Nature Sounds-
Soothing Birds Singing-
Natural Sound of Water
Relaxation

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Shanti Prakash (3)

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Stepping into Clementi Forest might be like stepping into another world. Why would it be unsurprising that we constantly yearn to escape, no matter how briefly, from our concrete landscape, from the heat, from the demands of Singaporean economic progress and 'success'. The drive towards excellence takes a pause as I step into a different space, marked by the occasional bird call announcing my arrival like a shop entrance bell.

The humidity clings like a blanket, yet it is welcome, temporarily, in exchange for this brief respite. My eyes take in a green landscape, an undulating outline so different from the lego block concrete of HDB.

I was told once that, in order to dream, one must be able to "see far". For the average Singaporean, our dreaming extends to the window facing opposite our bedroom plus, if lucky, a sliver of sky. Here in Singapore, we must travel in order to see beyond our immediate, literal context, in order to dream 'far'.

If one's landscape determines the depth of one's imagination, then I would bid farewell to Clementi Forest with the heaviest heart. As we strive towards progress and more housing for 9 million (or whatever number is sexy for the success of our population) , know what it is we are sacrificing -- more than a green lung, or a weekend jaunt of 'forest bathing'; we lose a piece of dreaming.

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My father had a Tamil proverb for every occasion and invariably, the proverb would be about the natural world. I did not even think I remembered them, until I heard my father’s voice in my head many times as I navigated adult life. Recently when I gathered with my siblings over Zoom, we got to talking about the proverbs he told us.

The proverbs seemed to have impacted my siblings in very different ways. My brother was particularly irritated when my father said “He who plants the tree will water it.” He felt this was fatalistic and that my father was covering up his difficulty in making ends meet and the challenge of providing for 9 children by repeating this belief in a Provider.

My sister remembered my father saying “Look at the crows. A crow who finds food will invite the whole village”. Looking back, she said, she realizes how my father would share what we had and how she used to be angry as a 10-year old that sometimes she would get less food because someone had ‘conveniently dropped in’ during mealtime. Then her voice softened and she said, “But, despite there being 9 of us, we were never hungry.”

I remembered my father saying to me, “If you feed the children of the village, your children will grow on their own.” I remember thinking then that it wasn’t fair. Much later, as a teacher, I found that I had to make choices, between meeting the needs of my students and the needs of my own young children. It was very difficult to teach long hours and then return to find two young ones waiting for me. I just didn’t have enough in my tank to give. On some days, I would console myself with my father’s proverb – surely, if I looked  after my students, my children too would be looked after?

But the proverb did not offer consolation for long. I became resentful, short tempered, sad. Why do I have  to choose between being there for my students or my children? How can my tank be filled?

It was nature that gave me that respite and helped me fill my tank. In one of the PD workshops, the trainer talked to us about the need for buffer time – a time to take off the professional self, to re-connect with my self and to prepare for the ‘mother’ self. He  said that it was compulsory for the employees of Disneyland, “the happiest place on earth”, to sit in a ‘decompression chamber’ before they boarded the staff transport that would take them home to their families as having to put on happy faces the whole day was tiring too. That little anecdote was one thing I would credit to helping me keep my sanity! I used to live opposite Guilin then and one day, I got off  the bus one stop earlier and just sat for 15 minutes at Guilin before going home. I did nothing. I just sat, looked at the water, the leaves, the rocks, the sky. I did it again the next day, and the next. And those 15 minutes with nature were my moments of peace, my re-centring. Those 15 minutes were my gift of self love to myself. He who plants the tree does indeed water it.

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Shanti Prakash (4)

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to my teenagers who are stuck at home with me these days 

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to my teenagers who are stuck at home with me these days 

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I do not understand you, you know, especially when you talk in circles. There’s no end, there’s no start, and there’s no stop to the words that go on and on. I cannot catch up. I look them up – the words you use. I cannot identify.

So I step out, close my eyes and listen to advice.
High-pitched and chirpy some are.
All the warbling and trilling from the canopy.
That one chirr stands out.
That unique toot beckons.

I think I understand now. I think I can try to identify now. I think I am ready to listen now.

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Where do we go in times like this?
Unprecedented pandemic is hardly a bliss

Lockdown, Circuit Breaker to prevent the spread
Heightened Alert is now the ongoing dread

What can we do since travelling is a restriction?
Many say forest bathing can be the new addition

Some say Clementi Forest is a cool green maze
Get there before we lose this green space

Listen to the chirping of the birds that bring some cheer
With endless exchanges that seem raucous to one’s untrained ear

Listen to the rhythmic sound of the stream
Flowing relentlessly unlike one’s dream

As I dwell longer with the birds in their nest
Somehow the rhythm of my heart found some rest

Don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future
Simply enjoy the sights and sounds which paint a beautiful picture  :)

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Shanti Prakash (2)

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(1) From Bath to Spa - for Spirit and Soul

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When time stands still
No rushing to check emails
No hurrying to make breakfast
No worry to get things going
When time stands still
It's just me and you
It's learning to be still
It's waiting and listening
When time stands still
I begin to hear your voice
I begin to see your wonders
I begin to feel your presence
When time stands still
It's knowing what matters
It's desiring things that last
It's centering on the soul
When time stands still

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Vara says this is me and my typical angsty self… I guess she’s right.

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A walk down memory lane...

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One day I'll make a bivouac here
Feast my eyes on your splendid home
Lay my feet between your blades of grasses
Be fuelled by your tickling and tossing
Tune my ears to your long-distance calls
Listen with the bit of my soul that's left
You always made it sound so easy, so effortless
To live, to thrive, to breathe
That one day may not be near
But I'll try to remember to tune in again
To not miss your beating
Your rhythm of life that runs alongside mine
Your Providence I'll remember
Listen...Feast...

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Write me a forest, you say.

Hmm, ok. Imagine clouds of green crowning the skies, covering, encapsulating, hiding precious secrets.

Imagine green of every shade imaginable – jade, emerald, olive, avocado. Leaves of every size, shape, edge and texture you can think of, with veins that breathe life blood into the very heart and soul of the forest.

Now imagine, little stirrings, scampering, darting, fluttering things, cacophonously euphonious, anxiously blissful in their secret garden.

Can’t see it?

Ok, then imagine a babbling brook, snaking its way into your very being –filling you up till the water trickles out of your eyes and ears.

You look puzzled. Alright, how about this. Imagine my mind then – dark, dangerous – occupied with little thoughts that flit and fleet, crowd and crown.

You don’t know what I’m talking about.

It’s too bad. You live right there don’t you? The new apartments – Clementi Forest?

Guess you’ll never see it.

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The meandering murky brown path
Deeper and deeper I go
Into the forest of my dreams
Varying hues of green
Like an eagle I swoop above the canopy of trees
A silence, a stillness and green never ending
It is too quiet—full of uncertainty
Where does the path lead and why
A sudden sense of foreboding envelops me
I scream –a scream from within
But in the forest of my dreams there is only
A silence, a stillness and green never ending
I am lost with no way out
Trapped within the forest of green
Following a path I know not
Then a Silence
A stream, a bridge and rays of light
The cricket calls and the birds chirp
Daylight shines
The forest doesn’t seem so vast
A path out of the forest of dreams I find

Rita
11 June 2021

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Hi SWI family! Here are the ways to present our writing in any of the multimodal formats

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Hi SWI family! Here are the ways to present our writing in any of the multimodal formats

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Click (+) sign to start a new post and indicate your title at the top of it (if you have one).

1) Post a photo of your handwritten piece of writing
2) Audio record your writing and upload it on the padlet
3) Share your writing on the padlet directly.
Note:

Thanks for being part of this 2021 SWI Writing Marathon!

Please continue to post your writing on the padlet asynchronously.

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The morning mist that descends afresh each new day fills my nostrils with the scent of new beginnings.

Awash with a light glow of the dawn peeking through the filigree of the dense foliage canopy, a wave of tranquility falls over me in that moment.

What awaits me, I wonder?
The routine visits of the mysterious mynah chirping its greetings brings a sense of expectancy. To look forward to such serendipitous seances.

In spite of the unknown, the faithfulness of nature, the universe and its creator is a deep anchor to my soul.

Wherefore should I travel?
Which way should I go?
With each heave, each step, each breath, look up, look around, look beyond.

The comfort and assurance of life's richness lie in the mundane. Right in front of me. Right here.

Adeline, SWI 2016
11 June 2021

Thank you for organising this wonderful session, Lynn, Audrey, Soo Ling & SWI Team!

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An ancient bridge
Welcoming travellers
human and non-human
Linking places and beings
Shelter and home to thousands

Solid stonework
Man's hand in God's land

Algae filling the cracks
Settling into the landscape

Rich fruity smellls of decaying leaves
death forming life
nurturing, passing it on to
those in the next season

Welcoming noisy ladies
chirping, tweeting, chirring,
cheeping, twittering, hooting,
cuckoo-calling, singing

Ladies listening to the
stream of flowing, gurgling water

Not still
Not stagnant

Pregnant with life

~Audrey
11 June 2021

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Royal milk tea to hug my insides,
Laughter and joy as I watch the fishes swarm my ankles,
Power and might as I listen to the roar and rushing of water on the rocks,
Warmth and love as I feel the sun rays hitting on my cold wet skin,
Greenery and purity as I smell the morning few that fades away with the sun.

I marvel at God's hands and His beautiful creation.
I am only but a small one compared to the rest of the universe.

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Serenity. The first word that comes to my mind when I think of what forest bathing is about. However, it is not the state I am often in every day. Maybe at the end of each day? No way. At least during the rest days such as Sunday? Unfortunately no. What about the school holidays? Sad to say but hardly even then.

Blame it on my active mind. Blame it on my need to be always ahead of everything. Blame it on my need to think about everything and for everyone.

Since I was young, I have always had the desire to plan ahead in whatever I want to do or achieve. For minor things, I will tend to plan in my mind days ahead. For major events such as overseas travel, I will plan at least a month ahead.

Family and friends commend me on this character trait but I do curse myself many a times for this constant need to plan and think about everything for as many people as around me as possible. Why can’t I be one of those who are more laissez-faire? Why can’t I just let my mind empty for just a few minutes and focus on nothing but myself?

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Forest often,
Forest well,
Which do you prefer?
Greens untainted, O2 supplying
Clearly reflecting, H20 running, streaming
Sweet chirping, CO2 expelling
Phytoncides, C25H28O6
I'll take them all.
For if I forest often,
Then, I'll forest well.

David