‘Sunrise’ by Sarah Kokai Thwaites

“This could be the start of something real. This could be the start of something beautiful”

As I sat this morning, these lines from a song played through my mind. It was a particularly fine looking morning with a golden sunrise glow in front of me. In a moment like this it is perhaps easier to see the beauty than in other moments. Yet this is true in every moment: not only could this be the start of something beautiful and real, it is already something beautiful and real.

This beauty is not in exclusion to life’s messiness but embraces it all. Us and every moment contain the potential for everything. Nothing can be excluded, no matter how hard we try to. Yes, that includes pain, discomfort and sorrow. They will arise and we can’t know when or how. Today could be the day I get run over by a bus or a loved one gets a life changing diagnosis. Yes, we live in crazy political times and the world seems more obviously uncertain than usual (but really, when was it ever not?).

And yet. And yet….

In this moment, in any moment, I have a choice about how I want to greet this life. This moment won’t last and who knows what the next moment will bring. Really feeling that adds a poignancy and urgency to the moment. I do not have forever. If I want to live with openness, kindness, love and appreciation, now is the time to do it. To tell the people I love how much I appreciate them. To smile at strangers for I may never get another chance. To pause, take a deep breath and appreciate the beauty that is here. And then move on to the next moment to do whatever that moment requires, even if that is taking out the bins or cleaning the toilet.

So simple and yet so easy to forget. The practice of a lifetime. Remembering and forgetting over and over again.