Everyday
Rising Sun captured by A Oh
It is supposed to be a beautiful day; the temperature sits at 48 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Saturday.
The start of each day is when the feeling of hope and possibilities is strongest. Sitting quietly, hearing the sounds of the house breathing allows a moment of appreciation for all the little pieces of reality to be noticed before the day gets going. The sound of lights. The sound of the fridge. The sound of the water pot. These are constants that fade as the light comes up and people begin to move in this space. It's lovely to sit with a single small light in the dark and to be with the sounds that are missed once movement starts.
Sitting with the darkness and the stillness is a gift. It is a way to open a portal that leads to deeper understanding about how we live. Also, it is a way to appreciate the way this world spins toward the light and does so with gentleness and subtlety. It seems we have lost those qualities in living today. Gentleness doesn't seem to be appreciated. It is understood as somehow being associated with the quality of weakness. And subtlety has virtually disappeared from our lives. We are not guided toward understanding the power behind learning the craft of being subtle. We certainly don't see too many examples of it in the world of politics these days.
Not sure why the thoughts today are taking this turn when the idea was to simply look at everyday as an opportunity to do better, do good in our lives. It must be the quietness and stillness of early morning. And that is the object lesson about rising before the light comes into the day: You get to have an encounter with things that are part of your everyday existence, but go unnoticed until you sit with the darkness that will certainly bring forth light. The anxiety and fear often associated with the dark, is absent. It must be because we know that a new day is rising and we will enter another cycle that holds all kinds of possibilities.
Will there be time to plant the fig ivy, to do a load of laundry, to visit a friend, or to prepare for receiving guests? Maybe all of it is possible, depending on your skill. How to balance and appreciate the opportunity in making all of these things a part of this new day's cycle is a practice that can help cultivate ways to be a better human being - our collective future depends on us paying attention.
Today, the sun will again light up our world. We can't know what events will unfold, but as this essay comes to a close, the transition from dark to light is happening. There is no way that light won't appear and what may be revealed once the light is fully up, is the gift that the universe brings to all: another chance to practice gentleness and appreciate the subtle things that happen. It helps to remember, every day is a fine day.