Life is meant to be lived and we are meant to show love while living it.
I had to remind myself of this yesterday when I was busy running around, trying to get everything ready. Ready? For what?? For another meal with my family? I often look ahead at what is to come and focus on being ready. That is a good thing to do, until it eclipses my participation in the present.
It’s important to pay attention to life as it happens and to be present for the experiences we are living as they unfold.
Our full presence is a gift we can share with those around us. Our smiles and laughter given generously and genuinely are our shared love language. We can weave our love for others, for life into the words we choose to use, into the relationships we cultivate, and into the art we create. Our love can be a key ingredient in the meals we cook and in the conversations we have, simply with our decision to make it so.
Cultivating a sense of presence — the willingness to simply pay attention to each moment of our lives — is an act of gratitude that recognizes the gift of life and the preciousness of those we share it with.
As I imagine myself as an old woman at the end of my life and ask myself how I will evaluate my time here, there is only one question that concerns me: Did I love well? There are a thousand ways to love other people and the world–with our touch, our words, our silences, our work, our presence. I want to love well. This is my hunger. I want to make love to the world by the way I live in it, by the way I am with myself and others every day. So I seek to increase my ability to be with the truth in each moment, to be with what I know, the sweet and the bitter. I want to stay aware of the vastness of what I do not know. This is what brings me to the journey. I do not want to live any other way. (Oriah Mountain Dreamer)
Today’s challenge is:
Be fully present.
Be present today. Fully participate in what you are doing and with whom you are doing it. Honor the incredible exchange of love that is available to us in all moments we live and breathe.
Embody gratitude to whatever degree you can.
And remember, there is always something to be thankful for.
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