As I was going about my morning routine a little after 7:00 a.m., I decided to sit outside on a balcony to do my scripture study for ten minutes. What’s expected in the morning is usually Peer Gynt’s “Morning Mood” with little chirpy birds and a soft breeze.
This morning I got exhaust smells, a loud garbage truck, and many, many, many cars running about on the road.
So, this being said, life rarely plays out the way we expect it to. Synchronized patterns and ideal circumstances are a rare gift much of the time.
But it’s interesting because that doesn’t mean the feeling I have in the morning has to be bad because I didn’t get the cute birds and the smell of fresh dew.
I’ve been reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Peace is Every Step (1991) and he said something profound in his small essay “Twenty-Four Brand-New Hours”,
Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. . . We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat out meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available.
We are good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.
Every breath we take every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. We need only be awake, alive in the present moment.
Thich Naht Hahn Peace is Every Footstep, pg 5 Emphasis added
Cultivating peace and contentment seems less about the circumstances and more about mindset. Would I like my mornings to be quieter with beautiful impressionist music? Probably, but that could get boring after awhile and I could become so complacent with it I become jarred every time something interrupts that perfect routine.
Hope you have a wonderful morning, afternoon, or evening even if the birds are dead and the flowers wilt! Life is a precious thing.
From the Perspective of an Old Soul 