Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying
attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds.
Let it be. Unto us, so much is given.
We just have to be open for business.
~Anne Lamott
A woman who went by the name Avriane, wrote this response to an article on Awaken.org about being present:
“One day many years ago I exited the building where I was working at the time, and stood waiting to cross the street and hurry to some meeting. There was a lot of traffic and I was watching the cars pass. Then, from one car, came the sound of a soprano voice singing some hauntingly beautiful aria. At that moment, the world fell away, everything fell away and it was a moment of pure, pure bliss and heaven. It pulled me from the street pavement and made me wake up. The day was completely changed..... Grateful, grateful for art and beauty.”
When I pay attention, art and beauty can carry me from the hard reality of life into what feels like bliss - a world that lifts, heals, inspires me, dislodges me from the struggle, and reminds me of the awe that is everywhere, all the time.
With a creatively awake mind, I can view our collective human behavior as amusing, our surroundings as art installations, facial expressions as projections of how many fascinating ways our faces can look, and i can see that our movements emanate everything from grace to slapstick. How we operate is, on a regular basis, more entertaining than performance art.
I can’t help but begin to feel gratitude effortlessly, as a side effect of paying close attention from the point of view of a fascinated witness. Yet unless I give myself permission to fully acknowledge this fascination, it just becomes part of a neglected backdrop of being alive.
jill badonsky (c) 2015
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