Dear friends,
Morning has broken like the first morning.
Welcome to the light of another new day.
We had a new day yesterday and the day before.
And now here comes another,
Yet another sunrise as regular as clockwork.
Each morning so unfailingly reliable that we can take it for granted even for years.
Day after day we can fail to notice and give thanks for the extraordinary fact of our existence in this amazing reality.
So let's give ourselves sixty seconds now.
Sixty seconds,
Just one minute to reflect on this often neglected daily piece of magic.
You and I are here.
You and I are here.
So how will we go about this?
Just look around and notice the room you're sitting in.
Pay attention to the chair or the cushion that you're sitting on.
Notice the things around you.
What you see is the tip of the iceberg.
What you see around you represents all the things that you are lucky enough to have.
And not only the things,
But more importantly the people in your life.
All the people who make a difference to your life.
People who make your life what it is.
We have so much to be grateful for as we awake to the light of each new day.
So now let's Welcome back.
So what can we bring to this new day that would make it better than yesterday and better again than the day before?
It begins with an attitude of gratitude.
Most of us listening to this are probably fortunate enough to have very few disadvantages as we enter this new day.
Few pains,
Few aches or troubles just now.
So let's appreciate what we have.
And let's be aware of and appreciate the many disadvantages,
Inconveniences and disabilities that we don't have to endure.
Let's thank goodness for the non toothache,
The non backache,
The non broken arm.
Thoughts like this can help to remind us of all that we have going for us.
The everyday benefits that we enjoy and that can go unnoticed until something goes wrong.
This gratitude for what we have leads us to practice generosity.
I wish to share what we have with people who have less and we all have something to share.
Not all of us have money and resources but all of us have time which is an even more important gift that we can offer the world.
We all have skills and life experiences of one kind or another,
Gifts that can make a difference to someone else.
So as we awake with gratitude to the light of this new day can we set out with one simple thought in mind,
The idea of what can I do for you?
Can we approach this new day with this open handed feeling of wishing to help?
A simple wish to make life a little easier for people we come across today.
And that is how the world changes for the better.
Each of these simple gestures sends out ripples of positivity,
Helpfulness and encouragement into the world.
And this attitude proceeding from even one person gathers pace and encourages another and then another until its effects are felt everywhere.
We find that the happiness and positivity we send out comes back to us multiplied and encourages further actions of kindness and generosity on our part.
It's no exaggeration to say that your stepping out of bed to the light of this new day can be world changing.
Let it be so.
Namaste.
