Hello and welcome to this reflection on finding beauty in the ordinary moments of everyday life.
Today,
I want to invite you into a simple reflection on the beauty hidden in ordinary moments,
Events,
And things.
This isn't the kind of beauty that we have to travel far to find.
It's not the kind of beauty that needs a perfect sunset,
A mountain view,
A concert,
A vacation,
Or a once in a lifetime experience.
All of those things are absolutely great,
But those become just the bonus level when we begin to be open to the ordinary things of life.
So we're going to be talking about the simple beauty of this moment of normal moments.
Things like a cup in your hand.
Your breath.
The light falling across the floor.
Snail or even a slug as I saw the other day.
I looked down at the slug and I thought that's a beautiful slug Slowly making its way across a path The other day,
My daughter sent a video of my grandson playing the harmonica.
So just an ordinary thing,
A little screechy,
But you know what?
It was wonderful.
It was beautiful.
So we're just talking about the ordinary.
We're talking about everyday life,
The life that is here right now.
So often we're waiting for life to be extraordinary and we can be kind of dissatisfied and bored.
Boredom is huge,
Especially when we have devices around us that are so addictive and can thrill us all the time.
And sometimes we might be waiting for something extraordinary,
Too.
We might be waiting for a trip.
We might say to ourselves,
I'll be happy when I achieve or become successful.
We might be waiting for that big moment.
And there's nothing wrong with any of those things.
You know like a Coldplay concert with thousands of people and the lights show and it's just like a worship experience.
It can feel like a little slice of heaven.
But what if the extraordinary is not the only place beauty lives?
What if beauty and life are hiding in plain sight?
What if the ordinary is not something to escape,
But something to enter more fully?
I have no idea what the exact percentage is,
But the majority of our lives is just lived in the ordinary.
You know,
It's,
It's doing the dishes,
It's sweeping or vacuuming the floor.
Today I had to fix a towel rack,
You know,
Just ordinary things.
That's what our life,
That's what our lives are made up of.
And so often,
These things are easy to miss.
It's easy to move through our day as if life is somewhere else.
I have found that when I begin to pay attention,
The ordinary starts to come alive.
And when I do this,
It's not like the world has changed.
It's just that I've become more open and available to it.
The wonderful teacher Thich Nhat Hanh,
Who has now passed away,
He often invited people to come home to the present moment.
He invited people to really drink their tea when they are drinking tea.
He taught walking meditation and he taught people to really walk when we are walking.
He taught people to see the miracle in the simple fact that we are alive.
In his spirit,
We might say that the ordinary moment isn't ordinary at all when we're truly here for it.
And when we're truly here for it,
As he taught,
This breath is a miracle.
Our bodies are a miracle.
This day,
Even with its imperfections and interruptions,
Is a miracle.
So I love just practicing it.
I just think practicing is the key.
I can share information with you,
But we need to practice.
So let's practice just for a moment.
Gently notice one ordinary thing around you.
What grabs your attention?
Don't analyze it.
Don't make it special.
Just simply be with it.
Allow this object of your attention to be enough.
Along with this object.
Be aware of this moment.
Be aware that you are aware of this object.
And then ask yourself,
Can this moment be enough?
This simple thing,
This tiny moment,
This bit of life,
Can it be enough?
There's a special kind of joy that doesn't need life to be spectacular.
Beauty and connection are realized naturally when we become open,
Become aware of our senses,
And begin to notice.
When we stop rushing past the life we've been given.
When we let the ordinary touch us and when we connect with it.
Gratitude begins here,
Not as a forced feeling.
Not as something we should have,
But as a natural response to seeing more clearly.
When we become open to the ordinary,
Everything and everyone begins to shimmer just a little bit more.
We become aware of their light.
Our common bond of life and existence becomes more apparent to us.
And not because everything is perfect.
But just because we're able to see it in a different light.
As we see the light.
The small and the grand,
The quiet and the dramatic,
The snail and the sunset,
All of it can become a part of a life of wonder and awe.
As I was putting this together,
The thought crossed my mind that maybe the invitation isn't to become someone more spiritual.
Maybe the invitation is to just become more available and open and present to this moment.
And this one,
And the next one too.
So let's take a few breaths together.
Breathing in,
You can say,
I am here.
And breathing out you can say this moment is enough.
Breathing in,
I notice what is here.
Breathing out,
I soften.
Breathing in,
I receive this ordinary life.
And breathing out,
I give thanks.
So I want to invite you to just reflect on your day so far.
Bring to mind one ordinary moment from your day.
Just let it surface.
Something really simple and something that you might have missed.
And as you remember it,
Notice what happens in your body.
Where is this noticing showing up in your body?
Just give it a little bit of space.
And then you might say to this moment,
This remembering,
Thank you.
Thank you for this small piece of life.
Thank you for this ordinary blessing.
Thank you for what I almost missed.
I have found,
And you may have found this too,
That the more we practice this kind of awareness,
The more the world opens to us.
We begin to discover that joy is not something that we have to chase.
It just surfaces as we practice awareness and notice the ordinary moments in our days.
Joy is the fruit of noticing the ordinary consistently over a long period of time.
Beauty is something that we will also wake up to as we practice noticing the ordinary.
And then,
As I said earlier,
When extraordinary things happen,
They're just a bonus.
A gift,
A celebration.
But they're no longer the only places where we feel alive.
I just want to close with a blessing and a bit of a prayer.
May you notice the beauty hidden in ordinary moments.
May your heart become tender towards small things.
May gratitude rise in you without needing to be forced.
And may you discover again and again.
That this ordinary life is sacred.
Thank you for being here.
Namaste.
