Shiny New Moments

I ran away from home again today, off into the wilds of nature—well, as much nature as I can get given that my wilds are confined to a suburban neighborhood.  It’s like a marathon out there, with people filling up sidewalk space and spilling out into the street to pass one another.  Who can resist on such a gorgeous day?

Now I’m back home in the Lazygirl to continue pondering on the theme that I started thinking about before running off into the wild.   As sit surveying my space, I realize that everything I see around me are reminders of the past—a   framed watercolor painting of a bouquet that was present at my father’s funeral, a TV that I no longer turn on, a bookcase that was custom built for a specific space that holds a collection of memorabilia and books read long ago and since forgotten—all things that remind me of things that once were, that are no longer.  Everything has a history.  Everything has a past, including myself.

It makes me wonder—how much do I hang out in the past without even realizing it?  What is all of this stuff?  How did it come into my life?  What is its purpose?  Is it useful?  Does it bring happy memories, or sad?  Can I walk away from it and never look back?  What will it matter once I am gone?

If I were asked to write one thing for which I am grateful, my answer would be gratitude.  As I survey my past, I realize that I can pick and choose what is worth keeping, what is useful, what is not.  I can decide what adds beauty to my life, and what thoughts bring back memories of suffering.  I can cherry pick what I want to keep, and what needs to be tossed into the do-not-recycle bin.  I am grateful for choice.

I am grateful for every experience, every memory of my past for the value of the lessons that I learned.  I am grateful that those lessons taught me that I can decide what to keep and what to throw away.  I am grateful to understand that I can learn through joy rather than through pain and suffering.  I am grateful that I can savor the good, happy memories and not wallow in old hurts.

I am grateful that I can take a moment to run off into the wilds of my mind in search of the vein of gold that is the present, and for the imagination that allows me to live in the brand new, shining moment of now, moments that build one atop another to form the foundation of a new future built to my personal specifications, a world of goodness, truth, and beauty  and goodwill for all.  Oh, how glorious it will be.

Please join the growing number of visionaries who are working as one to build anew.  The more the better, the more the sooner, the more the merrier.  Hard hats not required.

Note:  The photo above is courtesy of New Waves of Light, a website designed by anonymous individuals around the world who share the intention of bringing light and love to a world of darkness and chaos. (newwavesoflight.org or NWOL.us).