Let’s start this week’s blog with a short meditation

Close your eyes now and be sure that your feet are flat on the floor. Begin by taking a long deep breath in through your nose very slowly….hold it…and release it slowly through your mouth. With each breath open up to the healing energy all around you. Take another deep breath…hold it and slowly release it. One more time breathe in slowly and release it. As you exhale allow your shoulders, jaw, arms, legs, and your entire body to relax as inner peace begins to fill you.

It’s the end of the summer. You’ve rented a small cabin in the woods. It has all the amenities you need to feel comfortable and safe. There are some other cabins in the area, but you can’t see them or hear anything other than the sounds of nature. You feel a wonderful sense of peace and tranquility that you’ve been longing for. Other family members will be joining you tomorrow but for tonight you are looking forward to the seclusion and quiet that has been hard to come by during an active, fun-filled summer.

It’s almost sunset so you grab your beach chair and walk down a path through the woods. You come to a clearing and walk out and onto a white sandy shore by the ocean. You feel so fortunate to have found such a unique place with both forest and the sea so close to each other. The sky still has hints of blue, but the setting sun has captured all of your attention. You place your beach chair down and settle in to capture the last moments of the day. The sound of the waves crashing powerfully on the shore is mesmerizing. The rhythmic rising and falling of each swell of the briny sea lulls you into a deep, inner space that is familiar, refreshing, and renewing. The sun has blessed you with its nightly altering of colorful garments before it bids you adieu. Finally, it is just about to drop beneath the horizon, and you close your eyes for just a few minutes and enjoy the transcendent feeling of connection to God, your soul, and your team of light. You whisper to the heavens, “I am peace. I am love.”

After a short while, you open your eyes. The moon is now climbing into the star-filled sky. It is full and bright and shimmers like a million diamonds on the inky black sea. You take a deep breath and with it, take in the powerful energy of the massive ocean before you. Water of all kinds always represent emotion. Right now, your emotions are filled with gratitude and awe as unexpected tears of appreciation slip from your eyes and fall gently down your cheeks. You linger for a minute making a silent memory of this moment before you turn and begin your walk back to the cabin.

When you reach the cabin. You settle into an Adirondack chair right by the front door. The light of the full moon is filtering down through the trees. The scene of this beautiful, forest-like place comes and goes with the breeze as it moves the tree’s canopy to-and-fro revealing and then obscuring the view. The ocean can still be heard off in the distance and it continues to soothe you. You gaze up at the powerful massive oak, and maple trees that tower above you. Your consciousness makes a surreal connection while you take in the incredible healing energy they emit. You can sense the wisdom of the gentle tree spirits that reside in the core of these tremendous beings that stand like sentinels through the woodland sanctuary.

Once again you pause within the busyness of your life and the endless thoughts that can often be a distraction that pull you away from the present moment and the peace you so deeply yearn for. You take a long deep cleansing breath and intentionally commit to memory the beautiful gifts you are receiving from God’s magnificent creations.

The natural world has seemed to come alive and is offering to you the guidance, knowledge, insights, and inspiration that exist within it and in each living thing. You hear with your inner ears, that God’s messages for you continuously flow outward from all of life. You can receive them if you take the time to linger in moments such as these. These gifts of nature are offered to you on every lofty breeze that rustles your hair and wafts through your mind, the sweet scent of every colorful flower that fares your nostrils and reaches into your heart, and every drop of the salty sea that sprays upon your face and heightens your senses.

If you are ready, you can now open your eyes and return to the present moment.

If you prefer you can linger in this meditation and ask to receive further guidance for whatever situation in your life that is causing confusion or indecisiveness. You can also just bask in the breathtaking beauty of the temple of your soul’s light for as look as you wish.

There is not much to add to this experience. Yet I still feel the need to sort of summarize just in case some of you reading this need a bit more clarity. As we whisk our way through life, rushing form one moment to the next we may miss life as it unfolds. Our ego mind is always anticipating the next moment, the next word, or the next escapade. It is never content to simply be and linger for a while exactly where we are. Being mindful means noticing the details of our lives, the small things that, unbeknownst to us, may end up being the big things that can pass by unnoticed while we search for the big adventure or expensive new car.

Sometimes while I’m driving, I intentionally look up at the trees and off to the sides of the road and notice every possible detail I can extract as I wiz by. I think about the fact that every leaf on every tree will never look exactly as it does at this moment. The fluffy purple flowers, that grow back every spring and adorn the rocky perimeter of the old colonial house down the road, will never look exactly as they did the year before. The cloud formations that gently form and float across the sky may never form again in the exact same way.

When our journey here is complete, I don’t think we will long for our “stuff”. I think we will think fondly of the times during our lives when we simply appreciated being alive, noticing the miracle of our breath as it enters and exits our bodies, the feeling of our heart beating and allowing blood to circulate and keep us thriving. We will most likely think affectionately of our body that was able to feel the cool water of the sea as we frolicked beneath the dazzling hot sun.

I will remember moments with my children when they were little and in awe of the silliest little things. I smile when I think of my son George when he turned one and we bought him a tiny red piano. He sat by it, dressed in a light blue “big boy” suit. He pinged each note and smiled with such innocence and glee at the new sounds he made with his tiny fingers. I remember, my daughter Brittany, when she was about four and she put on my high heals and my big floppy hat. She put her hand on her hip and giggled with joy at her new fashionista look. I think of my other daughter Alyssa who endlessly entertained us with her antics. I especially remember her when she was about two standing by the pool’s edge, raising both hands above her head, smiling her biggest smile and shouting, “I big!” as she then jumped “all by herself” into the water.

The message, therefore, this week is to “stop and smell the roses.” Linger in small moments, not just the big ones. In the middle of our experiences pause, look around and notice everything our five senses can take in. Then take a moment and look for the things we may not see with our five physical senses but can notice with our soulful and spiritual ones. Life is a blessing and a gift. Let us enjoy every moment.