Through your accomplishments I gain confidence in my ability to move the world.
In your mistakes I recognize your willingness to be my teacher.
In your humility I lay down my need to fight for my existence.
In your weakness I see the most incredible power.
Each time I pause to notice, I cannot help but shed tears of incredible gratitude and honor in feeling into life through your heart and eyes.
As the last of the peppers hang on the branches of summer gardens, I am reminded that all dressed up in their glossy and attractive shades and shapes, all peppers really do look quite similar. Yes, some may be longer or rounder, but for the most part you can recognize a pepper when you see one.
The truly interesting part is that what you see on the outside rarely relays the tastes and sensations that are discovered on the inside. Size, color, and shape don’t always indicate what you will find. Stand a bright yellow pepper next to a long red one and you might think they were very different until you take a bite. Then you find a delicious sweetness in both of them. On the other hand, line three different green peppers up together and each can have a distinct flavor — some cool and sweet and others quite bitter or firey. In fact, some peppers will even take your breath away.
All crisp, juicy, and designed to complement one another, peppers come in all shapes and sizes, all flavors and intensities, all suiting different taste buds. Imagine if the world had only one type of pepper. Imagine if someone tried to decide which pepper was best for all and ignored the taste treats hidden in the others.
Isn’t it grand we have so many peppers to get to know?
Motion around me could easily create a distraction or even be perceived as a danger. Motion around me could be a sign that things are passing me by.
Or, motion could be a wonderful reminder to feel my own stillness, to watch without attachment, and not be in such a hurry to get somewhere.
I never thought of myself as adventurous…but then again when joy and goodness are in the driver’s seat, anything can happen…if you just let it. Put the peddle to the metal.
Re-think…Re-see…Re-feel…the world around you.
Nothing is locked into its purpose, function, or place in your life.
Meek is not to be cowardly, rather it is gentle, patient, non-violent, and creates a soft space from which your power emerges in its most natural form – one of compassion, vision, abundance, and joy. Be meek.
As the sun rises, it is not our task to seek what is missing but to marvel in all that is there.
The embers of the fire need tending to keep them bright and strong, to share their light, to give off their warmth. They are not intended to be smothered, but to be gently stoked and shared, to be given a safe space to fully express themselves. Nurture those burning embers and know the power and joy of that light within.
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.
Sitting in stillness…waves come crashing in…loud, powerful, ferocious. Yet, in the stillness, I know only their beauty, their strength, and their humble gifts of positive change.
Monday Mindfulness 