Just Observe Your Surroundings
Being aware, and in the present, without judgement, keeps your heart open to receive the 'little moments' that are all too often missed. The crow that lands just above you on the telephone wire and caws his challenge out to the world. The squirrel who is very clearly playing do or dare with oncoming traffic. The territorial seagull who tries (unsuccessfuly) to pick up the entire discarded McDonald's bag, and pecks at fellow gulls who would assist. These are all stories continuously unfolding around us. These are scenarios that, when we do observe them, make us smile.
And yet, all too often, we live in our heads. Our thoughts go skittering around mercilessly blocking our view of the world around us,
A quick dip here to pick up the thread of a lost conversation from yesterday "oh and I SHOULD HAVE said"
A sigh and a shrug - an adroit hop to the end of the last thought, Hmm, jot down this to-do list for tomorrow... and then swoop over to have a look at the internal calendar,
Jumping off cliffs, leaping to conclusions, stretching and pulling and weaving and nattering on and on - all the while having walked along 1/2 mile of the most beautiful mountain edged ocean shoreline that North America has to offer.
It happens daily, panoramic views are distorted, and even sublimated to the ongoing crawlers - thoughts that distract us from actually participating in the moments we are given.
So, reminder to self - JOY of living is to be aware and in the moment. For in truth, we cannot actively be anywhere but now.
