I used to walk down the sidewalk, my head down, lost in reverie, on a classically sunny Berkeley afternoon. The spray painted words on the side-walk, "BREATHE. YOU ARE ALIVE," would suddenly pop into vision, dispelling me from my quiet, detached self-absorption as I recanted all my daily "to-do's" and sonorous cerebrations.
I would suddenly stop, part my lips in smile, remembering, Wait! This is my life and by jones, I really AM alive! A breathing, walking, talking and living embodiment of all things contained in the universe. Excuse the cheese factor, as I have my Eckhart Tolle moment and retreat into New Agey- talk, here. But there is a sensuous delight in knowing that your visceral senses are somehow in complete accordance with your translucent, immaterial body and that every moment is a part of The Grand Scheme, in just the same way a pixel makes up an infinitesimal quota of an image. Those moments escape us rapidly, filtering through our larger lives like sand through the fingers. But if you catch them quick enough, remembering to pause and tilt your heads in wonder, you may find that that life is chock FULL of the individually isolated moments that lend meaning to our lives. We may, in fact, remember, through our very breathing, labored or still, that our existing is no small undertaking, and that that, my friends, is short of being the greatest miracle of all.
I would suddenly stop, part my lips in smile, remembering, Wait! This is my life and by jones, I really AM alive! A breathing, walking, talking and living embodiment of all things contained in the universe. Excuse the cheese factor, as I have my Eckhart Tolle moment and retreat into New Agey- talk, here. But there is a sensuous delight in knowing that your visceral senses are somehow in complete accordance with your translucent, immaterial body and that every moment is a part of The Grand Scheme, in just the same way a pixel makes up an infinitesimal quota of an image. Those moments escape us rapidly, filtering through our larger lives like sand through the fingers. But if you catch them quick enough, remembering to pause and tilt your heads in wonder, you may find that that life is chock FULL of the individually isolated moments that lend meaning to our lives. We may, in fact, remember, through our very breathing, labored or still, that our existing is no small undertaking, and that that, my friends, is short of being the greatest miracle of all.
4 comments:
And with this, I took a deep breath.
Your writing is immaculate.
Love you!
Thuy
"...our existing is no small undertaking..."
Our days are made of single grains of rice, put together to serve a beautiful and delicious life. each grain beautiful and, like sowflakes, different. Though small each grain brings great nourishment. though events in life may seem small, they too may be the greatest and most life defining that we have.
You are a great writer.
I, too, find peaceful moments on a treadmill, on the john, and driving down that deadening stretch on the Bonnet Carre spillway! Hahaha
I'm always blown away with each post. The thing I love most about your writing is how much it feels like I'm talking to you in person!
Love love,
Bern
a true Tolle moment. I find that I need reminders that I'm a live. Thanks for a reminder written so beautifully. Maybe we can get this post combined with Tolle reading to me and acting as a daily reminder- maybe over my car speakers- my most peaceful moments are in the car.
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