I stood looking out my window today. I've looked out that window thousands of times. But, what I experience at the window has been different each time and I realized it's what I bring to the window that creates the experience and impacts what I see. What a great analogy for life! In any given moment on any given day, life offers me a window with so many possibilities. The question I pondered today is...how often am I willing to show up at the window, keep my eyes and my heart open wide, and see the loving possibilities that life is offering?
I have little control over what appears outside my window. Life just shows up - in the smiling face of a child...a stack of bills...a magnificent sunrise...a homeless man pushing his cart...a loved one offering a warm embrace...a doctor delivering a heartbreaking diagnosis...the stunning beauty of a bluebird standing knee deep in snow...an overwhelming list of "to do's"...a luminous moon slowly rising into a sea of stars...a store clerk experiencing a challenging day...an unexpected gift of kindness...a confrontation that calls for courage and truth - life just shows up. Sometimes, it's effortless to look out the window of life and to feel blessed by and grateful for what I see. Sometimes, a more challenging scene awaits me and the easiest choice seems to be just to close the curtain of the window...as well as my eyes and my heart...and turn away. Though I may not be able to control what is waiting for me outside the window, I am always offered the opportunity to choose whether or not I show up.
If I choose to show up at the window of life, who - what part of me - will I bring? Will it be the part of me that looks out at what lies before me - everything and everyone - and sees the possibility: for love...or for fear; for compassion, forgiveness and tolerance...or for indifference, blame and judgment; for a gift in disguise that has purpose and meaning...or just an empty box; for infinite opportunities that will birth growth, change and transformation...or for limited opportunities that will birth more of the same. I am always offered the opportunity to choose who - what part of me - shows up at the window of life.
The choices I make will have impact...on my own life...the lives of others...the world in which I live. Will that impact be life-affirming or life-defeating...healing or toxic...contribute to the solution or to the problem...create a sanctuary or a battle ground...send a ripple of light into my life and back out into the world or a ripple of darkness? I am always offered the opportunity to choose my impact.
Some days, the illusion of struggle may feel so potent that I don't even bother to show up and look out at all of the loving possibilities that wait for me. Some days, the illusion of "busy-busy" may feel so real I allow myself to forget that another view, another window of possibility exists. Some days, the illusion of the comfort zone may feel so invitingly familiar that I look out the window of life in the same way, over and over, complaining the entire time that I don't like what I see. But...there are days...more and more and more days...when I choose wisely and with love. I choose my highest, best and truest Self to show up...to look out the window of life and, no matter what or who appears...to see only love and its infinite possibilities. The choice always has been, is, and always will be...mine.
May I remember to choose wisely and with love...or, to paraphrase Gandhi, may I be the choice I desire to see in the world. That is the candle of hope I put in the window of life today...and that, precious being, is my wish for you, too. One by one we can and do make a powerful difference.
Namaste....
Deborah
I have little control over what appears outside my window. Life just shows up - in the smiling face of a child...a stack of bills...a magnificent sunrise...a homeless man pushing his cart...a loved one offering a warm embrace...a doctor delivering a heartbreaking diagnosis...the stunning beauty of a bluebird standing knee deep in snow...an overwhelming list of "to do's"...a luminous moon slowly rising into a sea of stars...a store clerk experiencing a challenging day...an unexpected gift of kindness...a confrontation that calls for courage and truth - life just shows up. Sometimes, it's effortless to look out the window of life and to feel blessed by and grateful for what I see. Sometimes, a more challenging scene awaits me and the easiest choice seems to be just to close the curtain of the window...as well as my eyes and my heart...and turn away. Though I may not be able to control what is waiting for me outside the window, I am always offered the opportunity to choose whether or not I show up.
If I choose to show up at the window of life, who - what part of me - will I bring? Will it be the part of me that looks out at what lies before me - everything and everyone - and sees the possibility: for love...or for fear; for compassion, forgiveness and tolerance...or for indifference, blame and judgment; for a gift in disguise that has purpose and meaning...or just an empty box; for infinite opportunities that will birth growth, change and transformation...or for limited opportunities that will birth more of the same. I am always offered the opportunity to choose who - what part of me - shows up at the window of life.
The choices I make will have impact...on my own life...the lives of others...the world in which I live. Will that impact be life-affirming or life-defeating...healing or toxic...contribute to the solution or to the problem...create a sanctuary or a battle ground...send a ripple of light into my life and back out into the world or a ripple of darkness? I am always offered the opportunity to choose my impact.
Some days, the illusion of struggle may feel so potent that I don't even bother to show up and look out at all of the loving possibilities that wait for me. Some days, the illusion of "busy-busy" may feel so real I allow myself to forget that another view, another window of possibility exists. Some days, the illusion of the comfort zone may feel so invitingly familiar that I look out the window of life in the same way, over and over, complaining the entire time that I don't like what I see. But...there are days...more and more and more days...when I choose wisely and with love. I choose my highest, best and truest Self to show up...to look out the window of life and, no matter what or who appears...to see only love and its infinite possibilities. The choice always has been, is, and always will be...mine.
May I remember to choose wisely and with love...or, to paraphrase Gandhi, may I be the choice I desire to see in the world. That is the candle of hope I put in the window of life today...and that, precious being, is my wish for you, too. One by one we can and do make a powerful difference.
Namaste....
Deborah