December 31

Today's quotation: Sometimes during the day, I consciously focus on some ordinary object and allow myself a momentary "paying- attention."  This paying-attention gives meaning to my life.  I don't know who it was, but someone said that careful attention paid to anything is a window into the universe.  Pausing to think this way, even for a brief moment, is very important.  It gives quality to my day. Robert Fulghum Today's Meditation: I really want to be more aware of the world I live in, and I do make an effort regularly to notice more about my surroundings and the people in my world.  And I try to keep in mind the Taoist idea that we can notice more when we're not trying to notice things-- the Western ideal of making everything the result of effort may sabotage my chances of becoming more aware as time goes on. But I can still try, and thinking about being more aware is a fine way to close out a year-- my hope is that next year, I'll notice much more every single day.  I hope to pay attention to the world around me and the people in it, to the leaves and the flowers and the needs and the joys and the despair.  And it really does all start with ordinary objects, for those objects are what life consists of.  If we only pay attention to the extraordinary, then we pay attention to perhaps 2% of our world-- but when we start to pay attention to the ordinary, we may be amazed at just how extraordinary everything is. I'm telling myself that I'm going to change the word "today" in Iyanla's passage below to the words "next year," and I'm going to make that an on-going goal to which I'm going to devote a great deal of effort.  And if I'm able to do so, I'm going to recognize many different things and situations that I can contribute to, even if it's only by being aware of it and offering sympathy or a listening ear. Let's be aware next year.  Let's make ourselves special in our ability to notice, to recognize, to embrace, and to accept.  We can make our lives much more special with the gift of awareness, and we can contribute in many positive ways to the life all around us when we become aware of what is, so that we can treat it as what may be. Questions to consider: Why is it so often difficult to be aware of the many things around us in life?  Why do we miss so much? What would you like to be more aware of over the next twelve months? How might we go about improving our ability "to see, to feel, to know"? For further thought: Today, I choose awareness. I choose to be aware of the beauty of life and living. I choose to be aware of the simple truths in life. I choose to be aware of the simple pleasures in life. I choose awareness of joy. I choose awareness of peace. I choose awareness of love. I choose to see, to feel, to know, the presence of divine energy in myself and those around me. Today, I choose to be aware and to embrace all that is good, noble, and divine. As my awareness of joy, peace, love, and goodness grows in my consciousness, joy, peace, love, and goodness become the reality in which I live. For this I am so grateful! And So It Is! Iyanla Vanzant more thoughts and ideas on awareness

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