We are filled with breath, with life force. We walk amidst the beauty of this planet. We experience an incredible range of emotion. We are the beneficiaries of grace. And never so much as a thank you is required. Just for today, see if you can appreciate everything you encounter. Watch your heart open.
Pamela Hope DeLuca-Price
One of the primary tasks toddlers face in growing up is learning the names for everything. This practice is convenient and practical. We all have the same point of reference. We "agree" on what a dog looks like...and a flower...and a tree.
But a ramification that occurs from this exercise is that we begin to reduce everything we see and encounter...no matter how unique or breathtaking...to the "box" in which it fits most easily. For example, dandelions, roses, and gardenias are all "flowers" even though they each evoke a different sensation and emotion, look and smell different and are found in different terrain. Oaks and sycamores and pine trees share the same surname even though the "cousins" lead such different lives.
My point is that by taking on our cultural mores, by learning how everything functions and fits, we enter mainstream thinking which we need to survive but we lose the wonder and awe of experiencing a beauty which seems to have no name. It is just something our hearts and senses embrace with fascination and awe. Can you imagine, for example, describing the beauty of the gardenia...how it speaks to your heart....if you didn't know what a flower was?
And there is even more stunning beauty beyond what the eye can see. There are things we can sense on varying levels of intensity and through subtle nuance such as our breath, our life force, our myriad emotions. In the midst of our busy days, we often pass by this beautiful GRACE that awaits our awareness.
Just for today, see if you can appreciate everything you encounter.
Watch your heart open!
Marie Helena
originally published May 31, 2014
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