The world isn’t so gray any more. The world is becoming green against a backdrop of grayish-brown. The tiny green buds are popping from the trees. Each tiny bud, in its own time, unfurls to become a leaf. Hope appearing after a bleak winter filled with too much and not enough. No matter what we found lacking or in overabundance, within this winter, like all dormant times, is the promise of spring.
I remember quite a few springs ago vacationing in Michigan. My friend and I were taking a hike, and he spied a wild mushroom. After that discovery, it didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust to the landscape. When I opened my eyes to see, those morels were hiding everywhere in plain sight. Seeing in a different way provided an abundance of morels to feast upon that evening.
I remember that morel hunting when I am overwhelmed by the bleakness of winter. During those times that we feel trapped in the winter of our soul, we miss those minute, hidden signs of spring. Our life is seldom as barren as we believe. We have only to shift the way we perceive our world in order to find a spring waiting to bud and unfurl into abundance in our life. These miracles that are hiding in plain sight are evident when we open our eyes and see.
Living with our eyes wide open occurs when we foster an environment of silence. Here we do not live in a cessation of physical noise; rather, we quiet our minds and listen both internally and externally. We are mindful as we listen to our internal conversations — what our thoughts are saying and how our emotions are manifesting. We attend to what our physical body is telling us. Externally we pay attention to the world around us — not only the words of another but all that is occurring.
In this place of silence we more fully connect to our divine spark. This is our wisdom space where our ability to see past the mundane and see the promise in the world rests. Our inner wisdom shifts our attention so that we see the iridescent sparklies of the sacred. Cloaked in silence we see clearly beyond the barren and into what really is. We mindfully act in ways that bring beauty in response to our inner wisdom.
Each time we see past the mundane, we strengthen our mindful stance. Mindfulness is key to listening to our inner wisdom or that voice that speaks with all of our senses. Listening with intent, we can formulate our compassionate response to the world. We approach the barren in a different way. It no longer is an adversary but a place of possibility.
How can we be loving and gentle and kind knowing that we may never change those barren aspects? We acknowledge that the world will always have barren spaces. When we approach them with love, we recognize that while we may not be able to shift that gray, we can have compassion for it. In doing so, find those minute signs for our self and for others in the world. And, over time, those barren parts of our life with be overrun by the creeping vines of abundance.
Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is a Mindful Coach, Compassion Consultant, Professional Speaker, and Author who interweaves her inner wisdom in all she touches. Contact Vanessa
Her books are A Constellation of Connections: Contemplative Relationships and Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action.
More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com
No comments:
Post a Comment