Confession: so far, I am doing a terrible job of being on retreat. I have managed very little balance or rest, minimal practice, and transformation is a long way off. But that’s okay, because today (each moment) is another opportunity to try, to begin again–and I am grateful for that. I also appreciate that the open-hearted, brave warrior Susan Piver shared the following video so I could see it and share it with you. Another kind soul shared a link to a transcript of the video.
Even if you can’t manage to give the whole day over to rest, watch this video, read the words, let them sink into your heart and contemplate them. Feel the grace of gratitude.
You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you: today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.
If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response through the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.
Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open, that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather, and even of the weather, we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day, right now, this unique weather, may be a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same as it is right now. Open your eyes; look at that.
Look at the faces of people whom you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face. A story you can never fully fathom; not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far. And in this present moment, on this day, all the people you meet, all that life, from generations and from so many places all over the world flows together and meets you here like a life-giving water, if you only open your heart and drink.
Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water, cold water, and drinkable water. It is a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience. These are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which we can open our hearts.
And so, I wish you that you will open your heart to all these blessings. And let them flow through you. That everyone who you will meet on the street will be blessed by you. Just by your eyes. By your smile. By your touch. Just by your presence.
Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you. Then it will really be a good day.
(Thanks to this post for the transcript).
I am grateful, kind and gentle reader. For you, this chance to share and to see, to know grace and feel gratitude–all of it. What about you?
It’s going to be a good day.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 