In a sea of sameness,
There is light.
In the steady and sometimes maddening march of the familiar,
There lies beauty.
In the ordinary,
The mundane,
The usual,
There exists multitudes.
If only we focus our eyes to see it.
If only we tune our hearts to feel it.
When every day feels like a repeat of the last,
Send gratitude for the stability of your life,
The imperfect but safe,
Unoriginal but unburdened.
It is here in the seat of sameness that we find our deepest breath.
One breath in and one breath out.
Breathing into the mundanity,
Holding us somewhere between,
No longer and not yet.
It is here in the ordinary metronome of our lives that we have the space to notice how extraordinary it is.
To feel our feet on the ground,
Rooted,
Steady,
Strong.
To exist in a universe where the possibility of existence is infinitesimal.
Our very breath,
Our very consciousness,
A sign of magic.
It's here between the signposts of common that we have the space to chart uncommon paths.
To be so bored that you daydream the dream life that calls to you.
To have such calm that your nervous system craves the rush of thrilling adventures.
To be so wrapped up in the regular routine that you're running to take the road less traveled.
The one you know deep in your heart is meant for you.
To have time to rest,
To slow down,
To become a snail that inches so slowly across the daily doldrum of your life,
That you finally pay attention to all the little magic you usually miss.
Saturated in sameness,
You wring yourself out at the altar of self-love.
Finally noticing the wildflowers blooming around you,
You lay as an offering at your feet.
Overcome by the ordinary,
You gather leaves and sticks until you light a spark so you can pursue what truly sets your soul on fire.
To the sanctified space,
To floating in the messy middle of the moment and honoring the present of presence.
The stunning gift of stillness in the skyrocket pace of a world ahead.
To return to this expected home that is beautiful in its familiarity,
That welcomes us back and wraps us in a blanket of unexceptional belonging,
Allowing us true rest until our next adventure comes to call.
If only we could find peace here in our run-of-the-mill lives,
To stop running from the unremarkable,
We'd realize how remarkable the world around us is.
I invite you to stop running now.
Stop and notice.
Are you holding your breath?
For how long have you been holding it,
Waiting for a release from the ordinary?
Release it now.
Let it go.
Breathe here.
One breath in,
One breath out.
Change your perspective.
Zoom in on all the details around you.
The bud of the flower,
The veins in the leaf,
The feel of a hug,
The sound of I love you,
The melody of your favorite song,
The wave of your breath awakening each and every cell.
Change your perspective.
Expand your view out to spectacular towering trees,
To the vast expanse of sky,
To letting your breath expand your body and mind as far as it will go till you blend with the universe itself.
Change your perspective.
Shift it.
Embrace it.
Make the plane phenomenal.
Build the usual into unusually beautiful moments.
Tap into your imagination and learn to play.
Take on the persona of your favorite character.
Fill your day to the brim with gratitude,
With love,
With excitement,
And watch the world around you change,
Not because it has,
But because you have.
Sit in this seat of sameness and breathe it in.
One breath in,
One breath out.
You don't need everything in your life to change to escape this ordinary existence,
Even the most extraordinary of us experience at one point or another.
Instead,
I invite you to sit here next to it,
To befriend the ordinary,
To hold it close,
To change the way we see this friend of ours.
Change our perspective and have the patience to let our breath hold us between spaces,
To realize how extraordinary our ordinary lives can truly be.
Namaste.
