High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘attention’

One step at a time. That’s all it takes, you know.  Everything is easy one moment at a time.

Why, I can travel whole miles in a day, or climb a tree, and still have time for lunch.

You see more, too, when you’re not worrying about what’s up ahead, or what might have happened yesterday.  You notice more of the details.  You enjoy the very act of moving, and the view.

It’s all a matter of making the best of who you are and paying attention.

It’s really kind of beautiful that it all works out that way, don’t you think?

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The seasons move in baby steps.  Unless you’re paying attention, you don’t notice the changes any more than you notice the micro-changes in the mirror.  One day you wake up and it’s suddenly spring, or summer, or autumn (even in the looking glass).

But if you are paying attention, you see the signs.  A leaf springs out from a bud, or falls.  Hair beings to grow, or to disappear.  Foliage changes color.  You see the little creases begin around yours eyes.  Everything is in flux all the time.

Along the path through the field, wild asters are beginning to blossom.  Passersby may not take note.  We all have our different priorities.   But they make my heart beat with anticipation:  Here comes autumn!   Here is the prelude to her magnificent display.

You could tell within days that this lily was possessed with a passion.  It shot through the soil boldly and grew stronger and taller with every passing day, its leaves unfolding, its stalk stretching higher.  This one was focused on excellence.

“That’s the way you get results,” its instructors told it back at the Interdimensional Flower Academy.  “You give your attention completely to the work that is before you, and strive to do it with all your love and all your might.  Make your goal excellence.”

And that was exactly what the lily was determined to do.  It discovered that when it gave itself wholly to the work it hand, it  was engaging and absorbing.  And it made up its mind it would let no distraction lure it from the satisfying feeling that the work produced.

The work was so fascinating, watching the life force flow into every cell the lily created, that before long the lily sensed the harmony of working in tandem with it.  It sensed that it was a vehicle for the expression of the beauty the Great Yes sent forth on the force.  “What an honor!” it whispered to itself; “What an exquisite joy!”

One day, in late June, its blossoms finally opened to the sun, thick and firm and radiant with color.  The humans who came to see it marveled at it and sang its praise.  It gladdened their hearts and raised their spirits.  And the lily, seeing that it had fulfilled its purpose, rejoiced.

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” –Alice Walker

I love that line.  If you don’t recognize it, it’s Celie’s line from the last scene of the novel – and movie – The Color Purple.

I don’t know if God gets pissed off or not.  But I get what Celie’s saying.  To walk past beauty without it even registering in your awareness is cold, man.  I mean, there it is, all laid out for your pleasure and you walk on by without so much as a nod.  What’s up with that?

Oh yeah, I hear you:  “You seen one sunset, you’ve seen ‘em all.”  I know your type.  Aloof.  Jaded.  Untouchable.  You’re the ice man.  It’s all about you.  But nobody’s home.

But you know what?  The purple flowers are all about you, too, and the sky drenched in stunning color, and the green flags of grass, and the sheen of the morning sun on the pavement.  They’re for you.  They’re here to remind you that this isn’t a dream.  You’re real, and you’re alive.  And these gifts are wrapped in beauty just to touch your heart, because you matter and you’re loved, whether you know it or not.

Look at the palm of your hand.  That’s a miracle, man.  Press it to your chest.  Feel what’s in there.  That’s a miracle, too.  All that body warmth.  All that emotion.

Life doesn’t ask much of you, considering all it does for you.  It gives you free reign to make your choices and keeps your heart beating no matter which ones you make, just as if you were its favorite son.  The least you can do is give it a nod of recognition.  You know, notice the good stuff it pours out all around you.  Slip into not-ice mode once in awhile.

You never know.  It could change everything.