When I begin to sit with the dawn in solitude, I
begin to
really live. It makes me treasure every single moment of life.
really live. It makes me treasure every single moment of life.
Gloria Vanderbilt
* * * * *
Today's Meditation:
* * * * *
Today's Meditation:
Most of us develop patterns very early in life--when we're teens, one of our
biggest desires is to be able to stay up late, especially to watch some of the
TV shows that are unavailable to us when we're going to bed early. When
we finally are out on our own, we find that many of our contemporaries are out
late, trying to make the most of their non-work time. And staying out
late, of course, means staying in bed as long as we can the next morning to get
as much sleep as we can.
Because of this, most of us miss the dawns. Most of us end up on a
schedule that really isn't natural to our bodies' rhythms, and we tend to spend
the dawn hours still asleep or grumpy. It is a shame because those hours
are among the most peaceful and invigorating hours of the day--sitting quietly
while the sun comes up can be an incredibly spiritual experience, though we
never will know until we try it. Most people's experience with dawn
includes getting up "earlier than normal," which means that they're
not at all in the proper frame of mind to actually enjoy the time.
The dawn, of course, isn't for everyone. But quiet moments of peace
should be. The dawn offers a beautiful time of the day for us because it
tends to be quiet by nature--the world still hasn't started its noise and
hustle and bustle that tend to draw us in, keeping us wired and stressed.
If rising early enough to experience dawn--truly experience the peace and
solitude that it offers--isn't realistic for you, then it is important that you
find some time, somewhere, during which you're able to slow down, be quiet, and
be alone so that you can start to feel your connections to the life all around
you, rather than always hurrying and worrying and feeling cut off from the rest
of the world.
After all, life really does become richer when we treasure every moment.
It's in our act of treasuring the elements of our lives that they actually
become the treasures that they have the potential to be.
* * * * *
Questions to consider:
* * * * *
Questions to consider:
Why do most of us find it impossible to carve out from our day times of peace
and quiet?
How can being alone in a peaceful setting at a peaceful time help us to
"begin to really live"?
Why does solitude seem so frightening to so many people?
* * * * *
For further thought:
* * * * *
For further thought:
Deliberately seeking solitude--quality time spent away
from family and friends--may seem selfish. It is not.
Solitude is as necessary for our creative spirits to develop
and flourish as are sleep and food for our bodies to survive.
from family and friends--may seem selfish. It is not.
Solitude is as necessary for our creative spirits to develop
and flourish as are sleep and food for our bodies to survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment