The shaft of light falling recently through windows in my work space felt just plain holy. Ohio is well-known for its cloudy winter hours and after a string of dimly lit days, here danced a beam of light to shine on my reading and writing time. I actually gasped when witnessing the beauty of that cast shadow and would spend hours at the window table reveling in nothing but how light can inform and reveal.
It seems love and light are so often in question during these harsh, too-much-instant-information-coming-through-the-palms-of-our-hands days. Too much input from outside ourselves about any topic can dim our ability and/or willingness to bring our hearts and minds into deep appreciation of natural, simple beauty. And it's important to remember information can intoxicate as well as instruct. As we drink in news coverage from all the sources available to us, as our mind absorbs the latest over-the-top-good-and-bad coverage of the rich and famous, of sport giants, politics and natural disasters here and abroad, we can't afford to forget from where we come.
We live from the inside out. We are also heavily influenced from the outside in, by what we read and who we listen to. Stopping each day (maybe each hour) to pay attention to the way your body breathes itself can invite mindfulness. You don't breathe your body, it breathes itself. In and out. And the sun does what it does without your help. So will the tulip bulb buried 7 inches beneath the winter dirt. Pay attention to what is in the quiet all around you.
It seems so many are afraid of quiet, but just plain quiet can inform and reveal just as much as sunlight pouring itself through a window. Taking time away from all the clatter and clutter of information allows you time to sort through your own inner debris. Stopping your scramble for answers, or your search for a piece of some cosmic pie, will help illuminate your values, your desires, truly inform your own way of being in this beautiful and chaotic world.
Placing all those pieces, parts, and voices outside ourselves in time-out while we sort through our own truths is how we shed light on our path.
"No solution can possibly exist while you're lost in the energy of the problem. Everyone knows you can't deal well with a situation if you're getting anxious, scared, or angry about it. The first problem you have to deal with is your own reaction." So claims author Michael Singer.
Claim some minutes after reading this to find your calm, claim your shaft of sunlight and celebrate the privilege of just plain being here.
Candace
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