Delight

The temperature is warming again and the skies are clear.  At 52 degrees, fahrenheit, one can actually feel the the warmth rising and with the moon almost at fullness, the shift feels very real.  Today is Monday and the week ahead looks calm. May it be so.

Last evening, the sunset was beautiful.  Making to the coast, up on a hill, just as the sun was setting, one could see far across the water to where the sun was falling below the horizon.  It was another spectacular end to a day.  A cycle which began with an early morning walk, a meditation atop an arroyo, a conversation with a young friend whose work is to support working families – all sources of great delight.  And that is what some of the days should offer.  With each shift, total presence.

Plenty of streams of worry exist;  and one has to be intentional about seeing the places and events that bring a different kind of energy.  That would be hope, joy, even delight.  And the word itself is a tickler - it has "light" at its core.  This is what seems to be missing these days.  Sources of light are everywhere - the greatest material source being from the sun that rises each day.

If we can recognize that as the starting point and invitation into the day, we can bear the weight of all that daily living brings.  For many that weight is great and remembering to take up the resource that light offers, can be a good way to start.

Stillness and light are a special kind of delight.  One can quietly enter the new day and feel the infusion of possibilities as the darkness of early morning gives way to the light of a new day.  In this place, one can feel many things awakening - gratitude, compassion, patience, and much more.  Sometimes, a kind of sadness will come and this too, is fine.  It is part of what a person actually needs in order to get to delight.

Whenever the morning arrives, one can see it as another chance to do things in a way that allows the practice of living a more virtuous existence.  Even in the most mundane tasks, one is given the chance to have a surprise encounter with something beautiful and unseen before that day's task presented itself.  

There is a story of a woman who was working on cleaning her home;  her focus and intention was so intense that the entire day passed before she realized that all she had been doing was organizing and cleaning the accumulated chaos of life.  One moment that day had just begun;  the next, night was about to come and for her it felt like an instant.  No body aches, no distractions - just a clean and clear focus on what was right in front of her – all day long.  It was a delight to realize that this state of mind is possible, resulting in both a material and non-material shift.  

This is yet another lesson:  step into the mess, focus on what you need to do, stay with the mess, eventually it may get cleaned up.  Delight.