Life is moving fast and time's pace is at a record sprint! There's a list I keep adding to in order to remember what I've decided is important to remember. I noticed that I have been organizing and clearing out my space, both physically and mentally. Noticing what has accumulated, what needs to be released and how I can choose to live with gratitude. I use my yoga practice to help me notice...quiet my mind...be still.
What is leading for me is an urgency to simplify and hold on to a slower pace. Maybe it's an intuitive knowing that all around me there is a preparing for the feast. Harvesting and sharing what I have to give of myself - my time, the food I have to share, sacred space, presence. Gratitude for the life I live begins with noticing what is happening in this moment and the next and the next.
I have a poem to share by Mary Oliver that speaks of her 'work as loving the world' and of standing still and being astonished.
Messenger
by Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird— equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect?
Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude,
to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren,
to the sleepy dug-up clam, telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever.
I am astonished and thankful for: this clear, blue-skied day, for my sweet family, for a hot cup of coffee and my fuzzy slippers. I am so thankful for my life, this one sweet life of mine. Thank you God, thank you, thank you, thank you!
What have you noticed today?
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. ”