Contrast arises in our experiences as a guide. Like bread crumbs scattered on the path, contrast draws attention, redirecting us back to the path, pointing out the direction in which we should head so that we can find our way back to what nurtures and restores us.
The art of happiness is to serve…not just those you choose to serve…not just at times that are convenient to serve…not just from the excess reserves…but to serve…all.
When I am truly present, I feel each experience within my body. I receive it with my breath. I prod it with my thoughts and explore it with my feelings. Then, as I peel away these aspects of experience, these many layers of me, my inner wisdom welcomes that experience, absorbing it like a sponge, until that experience becomes me.
When the layers dissolve, all that I experience is me.
Brave hearts do not express courage with reckless abandon, fearlessly, wildly lunging forward. Rather, with discipline, wisdom, and awareness they intentionally explore a space that feels unfamiliar, unsafe, and with trust in themselves they willingly go there anyway.
As the sun rises, it is not our task to seek what is missing but to marvel in all that is there.
Can I open my mind without thoughts rushing in? Can I clear the path and feel expansive and light when all my thoughts and feelings seem so dense and heavy? I focus on my breath — its softness, its calm and gentle assertiveness as it moves through my body — and I begin to notice the light, to feel the freedom, to be the quiet…to know the peace of just being. On my breath, the fog lifts and I expand beyond.
My body is the vessel of my being.
It holds me, carries me, represents and protects me.
Why do I judge it, harm it, ignore it?
My body has unconditional love for me, always doing its best to support whatever next idea I have about how to decorate it, what to put into it, how to use it.
It will not last forever and it may not always be able to do or give me what I want, but in the still of the night, no matter what I ask of it, if I listen very carefully, I can hear it saying, “I love you”…every organ, every bone, every muscle, every cell.
It’s time to love it back…unconditionally.
With each exhale, I let go with full gratitude. I empty spaces, create hollows and clear out the residue of all that has created and sustained me.
Then, with effortless ease, the inhale comes swirling in, creating the next new vibrant moment, filling the gaps and hollows, adding onto the full, rich, and vital being that is me.
And so it is that I welcome every exhale with delight, knowing that I am creating the very pathway for my next new beginning and welcome every new beginning as it rides in upon my next breath…again and again and again.
Every breath a new beginning.
We say we want our children to be more mindful, but aren’t they already in their minds enough? Why don’t we encourage them instead to be more wisdomful?
Peace Flower by Ella Kaszubski
Monday Mindfulness 