Creation, it’s all around us, especially this time of year. Starting in March, I take weekly walks with my granddaughter throughout the yard. I point out plants, mostly bulbs that are starting to send dark green leaves above the soil. We look at branches and notice the buds beginning to form on some and no action on others. We notice the weeds that need to be pulled and how leaves have begun to decay and are now a lacy image of what they once were. We notice bugs crawling and birds flying.
What inspires us and impels us to take these walks is that next week the scenery has changed subtly in some cases, and wildly in others. The plants we noticed last week may be a little higher, the buds a little more formed, the weeds gone as some yard work has been completed; turn the corner and the bright yellow forsythia seems to have magically appeared. The color strikes us and a squeal emerges (ok, not just from her, but me too.)
Nature is creating Spring all around us and most of us miss it every year in the busy worlds we create for ourselves. Did you notice the word create in the last sentence? Yes, we are creating our lives every day and if we are too busy creating busyness, we may miss the opportunity to enjoy the unfolding of creations around us and be sparked to create our own masterpieces.
Each one of us needs to take the time to notice what is happening in our lives because there are weeds that need to be pulled, actions that need to be pruned back and others that need some tender care to bloom. When we pause to notice and take care of what is happening in our lives, we are better able to help and care for those around us and this leads to a fuller, more positive life.
The process of noticing what is around us in the moment is called mindfulness. Mindfulness is acknowledging our thoughts and feelings without judging them. This mindfulness can lead us to creation. Pause now, take a minute and notice your surroundings, notice your feelings, don’t assign judgment to them, just notice them. Now, do you want to enhance the feelings or change them? More on that in next week's post…