Seize the Moment

My friend Carol McKeag has sent this blog describing a very recent insight, enjoy….  Nancy

I’ve spent twelve summers at my current home and just this morning found a new, delicious, serene and nurturing space in which to do my morning practices. My normal morning ritual is to go downstairs, make coffee, bring it upstairs and get very cozy in my comfortable bed with big pillows and do my daily reading/writing/meditating in that space. I love my bedroom space. I can look out the window and see the seasons changing; it is light and airy, spacious and warm.

This morning instead I took my coffee outside on the back patio deck and sat and watched the beautifully colored wild birds dance around the birdfeeder. Saw hummingbirds examine the new feeder and come back to eat! The air outside was coolish; this space gets afternoon sun so is shaded in the morning. I was surrounded by blooming roses, green trees and a bubbling fountain; just me, the birds, nature and my books and journal. What a joyful, peaceful and soul feeding experience that was.

Sitting there I was struck with the awareness that I had lived in this space for thirteen years and never experienced the gift of morning time on the back deck. I spend lots and lots of afternoon time in the sun there. I wondered how many other wonderful experiences I have missed because of my tunnel vision, seeing only what had become familiar to me. How easy it is to keep returning to what I know and trust and is routine rather than taste something new.

My reading this morning included Alan Cohen’s message for the day from his book A Daily Dose of Sanity, and it was so on target. It was entitled “Peripheral Vision” and discussed how when we are fearful that fear narrows our corridor of sight. I wasn’t fearful this morning, yet my corridor of sight was very narrow. I think “routine” narrows our corridor of sight.

As I was completed my morning practices and was ready to return in to the house I saw two white butterflies flying together in an upward spiral as though they were dancing…up, up, up and away. And I thought about the joy and peace that comes from seizing the moment; don’t wait to seize the day. Revel in, enjoy, roll around in and taste, seize this moment and soon you will have a whole day.

“You can assess the sate of your mental health by

the number of options you are aware of.”

unknown

Carol McKeag, CPC

Life Coach & Spiritual Mentor

www.Coachingforlifeandspirit.net