“As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.”
Buddha
I am here. Today is my birthday and I am feeling grateful for this new day. My body is feeling well in spite of the new number that labels my age. I didn’t set the alarm last night. One of the gifts I needed most was sleep. It felt wonderful waking up when my body naturally felt ready. The universe cut me another break by canceling school due to snow. The house is quite and still. The deep layers of snow insulate us inside from sound. It seems everyone else is enjoying the extra sleep as well.
The gift I appreciate today is presence. Eckhart Tolle in the book A New Earth suggests spending time quietly with something you consider beautiful – a flower, a crystal or an object. He challenges us to see and experience this thing of beauty without giving it a name. Simply be present with it and see what happens.
I tried this experiment looking at my dog Gracie as she slept quietly by my desk. She is a beautiful golden retriever and I figured she qualified for this experiment. As I gazed at her and put my focus on being fully present with her, I soon began to feel a sensation in my heart. It is as though I was able to feel her separate energetic vibration within my own center. There was a pleasant response from my own soul as this occurred and our two separate identities greet each other energetically, even as she slept. Suddenly we were no longer separate beings. This connection is a mystical yet subtle experience. I urge everyone to give it a try. This experiment works with anything you consider to be beautiful.
As I look at my own life and the gift of today, I feel grateful. It has been a year filled with a satisfying marriage, a happy family, true friendships, health, a profitable business, work I enjoy, and new friends I didn’t even know a year ago. I am evolving (sometimes painfully!) as a writer, teacher and leader. I have dreams and goals for the year ahead and know things will keep changing. It is my plan to be present as life unfolds.
Wake up to presence, the true gift of life. We are all given this gift of life for a reason. Notice and feel more of that in your world. There is feedback to guide you when you pay attention. The spark of energy that set cells to divide and life to form is part of you and the bigger plan. Each soul is significant and worthy of notice too. Are you noticing? As we all do, peace prevails.