Hello TSJ Readers!
Solomon has once again awakened the muse in me this morning. What is there about that grin of his that gives me such simple pleasure and inspiration- often an aha that sheds a beam of light on what needs to be noticed? It works a bit like sunlight that dances across the room and reveals something that needs cleaning that looked perfectly fine one minute before! A beam of light reveals our dust bunnies.
I know. I digress. And I do that easily. Which is what today’s WW (Wednesday Wisdom) is about.
I seem to be increasingly aware of how difficult it is to focus… except of course to focus on worries and concerns. I have that one nailed. Perfected. Mastered. And it does not serve me well.
Perhaps you too have an advanced degree in living/ thinking from the past and the future without stopping in the middle which is the present moment. I look around and see many, many of us with advanced degrees in that area!
There is barely a split second in which we are not doing one or the other. But that just may be the rub. That is where a band aid needs to be placed to slow down the rawness of constantly reliving previous moments when we may have fallen short in some way (the past), or from overly focusing on all of the “what ifs” of this day or tomorrow (the future) or the future far off. It is quite easy focusing on such things.
The forever friction of past and future constantly in contact without the space of just being in this present moment, hurts us. And just perhaps we need a mental salve or band aid for a bit to hurt less, laugh more and discover new ways of being.
You have heard it over and over. I have written about these things myself over and over. And we make the same mistake over and over. We miss out on being present to what this moment is offering us by reliving the last moments and worry about the next ones. This creates divided energy and attention and drains our inner reserves.
And just as repeatedly, we have learned that an attitude of gratitude shifts our thinking and therefore our experience.
So this morning I experienced this for myself. I had trouble focusing on my morning quiet time with God and my own soul as my mind was doing what I describe above.
Ouch…mental blisters, like a blistered heel, causes us to limp along with inner pain which happens almost imperceptibly when we forget to practice staying present to the moment and being grateful.
Today I was inspired to begin the day by writing a list of thank-yous on a piece of paper. Wow.
Many spiritual traditions and wisdom writers emphasize the importance of gratitude. Our scriptures remind us to always give thanks. I tried it and once again felt its power.
I swirled around from my little table and told Solomon there is a minute miracle happening when you say thank-you. Solomon gave me that wide grin and twinkling eye as if to say “I have told you this a thousand times…glad you believe me now.”
It shifts your focus onto what you have rather than what you think you lack.
Yes, it was a light switch moment. I turned on the light of thankfulness…simple things like hearing, seeing, walking, talking, laughing, touch, nature. Name anything at all to be thankful for and you just may experience a shift for the better, no matter what is transpiring.
Stop for a minute and whisper many thank-yous and you will find that you have just flipped on the switch for a brighter moment at least, if not for a brighter, lighter day.
We all have a thank-you switch at the door of our heart. It includes brain based thinking but it also is bigger than that. Your heart knows what the soul needs.
Go ahead. Remember the thank you switch and smile.
It sure helps me. Thank you moments are like a bandaid to your wounds.
Enjoy your day in the pastures of life knowing your Shepherd loves it when you say thank you for small things rather than take them for granted. Even breathing is a big thank you to life itself.
Margie, Solomon and SJ,
