What Do You See?

We are surrounded by things of intense beauty. Our world is full of amazing experiences; incredible sights and sounds, inspiring people, enticing tastes and aromas, sensations that sometimes overwhelm us.

The air we breathe to stay alive is also permeated with the expectations of other people, with pain and frustration, with our own sense of our mistakes and failures. All around us people act selfishly or treat each other without respect, they view each other as obstacles to overcome, or pay no attention to each other at all.

We are not generous with each other, or even with ourselves.

We tend to understand the world through the filters of our own experiences. If we have been inspired, we recognize the inspiration in the world. If we have been intimidated, we are sensitive to the things which can be intimidating.

The challenge is to be open to the possibilities around us, and within us, in each present moment. That openness and awareness can help us refocus our lives. We can move from the regrets and fears that grow out of our past. We can move from the fantasies and anxieties that we draw from our future. We can live and breathe in the present.

I am easily distracted. I see what there is to see. I hear the sounds. I have empathy for the people. I am drawn into the aromas, the tastes, the way things feel. I get caught up in the stimulation of information and sensations. I draw fears from the past and anxieties from the future without even thinking about it.

It is vital to me to take time each day to pause and let go of what has accumulated. I need to spend a little time not thinking about my thoughts, getting in touch with something beyond me and giving my whole system the opportunity to begin again.

Then I can see clearly.

What do you see? What do you do to clear away what you accumulate?

[Image by orangeacid]