Embodied OM

Align & Shine through YOGA

As a child, I used to love going to spend a couple of weeks every summer with my Nanny.  Nanny lived a very simple life in rural Ramsuer, North Carolina.  She appreciated the natural world all around her about as much as anyone I've ever met.  We would spend hours together on her front porch, rocking in our rocking chairs, watching nature focused and curiously attentive, like some watch their screens these days.  This morning I began my day with a warm, aromatic cup of coffee sitting in my comfy living room chair gazing out our, newly cleaned, front storm door into this beautiful, sunny Saturday and I thought to myself my life at this moment is not unlike that of the life Nanny lived every day.  The schedule I used to have has come to a screeching halt, as has many people's schedule, and I happen to have a lot more time on my hands to appreciate and watch, with wonder and awe, the natural world around me.  This time of pandemic could be viewed as an invitation to do just  that....to pause and choose to look for the beauty that is, and always has been, all around you.  I recently read a line in a post, "We are all alone together."  This is true all the time, but it seems that more of us are  forcibly aware of it now than ever before.   What's happening is happening to all of us.  No one is excluded.  We live in an all inclusive universe and this is certainly proof of that.  The question is, how do we choose to experience the reality that is upon us?  How do you choose to experience this?  Each of us has the ability and capacity to see, appreciate and align with the well being that abounds,  even in the midst of a pandemic.   Is it possible to focus our minds deliberately in a positive direction, thereby contributing to the well being of our planet as a whole.  From right where you sit, right now, you have the power to add to that well being through the astonishing power of focus.  I wonder what Nanny would think of all this?  I'm feel sure her daily life wouldn't change much at all, neither would her love and appreciation for her world.   I'm not sure if she really knew and understood the power of her focus, but it inspired me towards my own.

More savoring and appreciating the beauty of this new day led me to this hauntingly relevant poem by the late Mary Oliver published in 2008.  I just had to share...

                                                                      INVITATION

                    Oh do yo have time

                         to linger

                            for just a little while

                                   out of your busy 

                    and very important day

                           for the goldfinches

                                 that have gathered

                                        in a field of thistles

                    for a musical battle,

                         to see who can sing

                               the highest note,

                                       or the lowest,

                    or the most expressive of mirth,

                          or the most tender?

                               Their strong, blunt beaks

                                        drink the air

                    as they strive

                           melodiously

                                 not for your sake

                                        and not for mine

                    and not for the sake of winning

                          but for sheer delight and gratitude-

                                believe us, they say,

                                      it is a serious thing

                    just to be alive

                           on this fresh morning

                                  in this broken world.

                                        I beg of you,

                    do not walk by

                           without pausing

                                 to attend to this

                                        rather ridiculous performance.

                    It could mean something.

                           It could mean everything.

                                It could be what Rilke meant, when he  wrote:

                                     you must change your life.

What do you choose in this moment???