Happy Again

Last weekend I was sitting on a friend’s porch in Westmore.  There was a small slice of Lake Willoughby visible, and the hills on the other side, there was a wide green lawn, the neighbor’s house, and a lot of trees.  The wind was coming from different directions in puffs.  There was one warm puff and one chilly one.  The rest were pleasantly cool.  The branches of trees, pine and spruce and maple, were thrashing all around as though dancing.  I watched quite happily for a long while.  In the past, I would have had to have something to read, or my journal to write in.  My journal was actually at hand, but I didn’t reach for it.  This ability to sit still and just enjoy the present moment is so new I still feel surprised by it.  I do remember sitting on the beach at Cape Cod, last year, and having the same comfort in just being in the present.  So I think it’s an ability that’s been growing gradually as I release the inner tensions in the trauma work.
Matthew Fox said “It’s a spiritual practice to learn to savor daily life.”  He quotes Mary Oliver’s rules for living:  1) pay attention  2) be astonished  3) share the awe.  Writing this down, I realize that we’re born with the ability to savor daily live, babies and young children savor the moment until it gets trained or beaten out of most of us, at least in Western culture.  I think many people in indigenous tribes never lose it.