While I would like to say I always walk bare-eared, open to the sounds of wind in the pines and birds on the bough, in truth I am usually plugged in, listening to music or a recorded book. 

Yesterday, I started out with one of these in mind, but as I began to amble along a forest path, I realized that I couldn’t pollute my ears. The only sounds that should enter them on such a pristine spring morning should be the sounds the morning itself produced.

It was a calm, quiet, meditative experience. I’m doing it again today.