CLINTON – The more than 4,500 people who crammed into the field house at Hamilton College on Tuesday got to see the new model Bill Clinton, a former president who says he now spends more time looking at the trees.

For eight years, of course, it was Mr. Clinton’s job to see the forest through the trees. The former president said there was a good and a bad side to no longer being president.

“The good news is I can say whatever I think. The bad news is, since I’m not president, nobody listens anymore,” he said with a laugh. Whether they listen or not, Mr. Clinton said he is just happy to be still talking.

“I was about to embark on a six-nation, 21-day tour of Asia when I felt these chest pains,” Mr. Clinton told his Hamilton College audience. “I think it is highly unlikely that I could have survived that trip without a major heart attack. Whether it would have killed me, I don’t know.”

On September 6, Mr. Clinton underwent quadruple bypass surgery to deal with blocked arteries, some more than 90% obstructed.

“It’s amazing, I go walking now and I can pass a hundred trees and when I am done I can tell you the state of the leaves on 60 of them. I notice things I didn’t notice before,” the former president said.

The former president, for want of a better phrase, said he had turned over a new leaf. “I’m going to read more books and look at more trees, and spend more time with people I love and care about,” he said. “And, try to just be grateful every day.”