Our daily lives are full of moments of what can be described as natural goodness. If we just remember to pay attention. These moments are very spiritually and emotionally nutritious.
It is simply paying attention to pleasant moments or sensations, of getting into the habit of savouring those moments and noticing when we feel good.
For example, you have spent a few hours in a meeting cooped up in stale air and then you step outside and notice the way the cold fresh air pleasantly stings the skin of your cheeks, forehead and face. You might be standing in the shade feeling cold, then you step out into the bright sunlight and enjoy its gentle warming on your shoulders or back. Maybe it’s the deep animal happiness of stretching in the morning. Or it might be the sensation of holding a mug of warm coffee in your cupped hands and savouring the aroma, the pleasant sensation in your body as you sip. Perhaps the sensations of your shower: the smell of the soap, the slippery sensation of the soap on your skin, the stimulation of the hot or cold water. It might simply be really noticing how good you feel, the sense of energy, wellbeing of infinite potential. How about the closeness and warmth of a hug? With its wordless yet profound sense of connection, of wellbeing, of love. The feeling of fresh sheets as you gratefully slip into bed at the end of a busy day. The feeling of awe looking up at the stars in the night sky, simply experiencing, knowing that real comprehension is impossible but feeling that profound wondrous sense of connection, of wonder.
Remind yourself to practice, to choose the conscious experiencing of these moments. Allow a sense of gratitude to arise. In these moments it is not difficult to feel the miracle, the privilege of being alive, being conscious and able to appreciate that mystical sense of communion with the universe.
If we practice noticing these moments of natural goodness when we feel good, it becomes a habit and the experience of natural goodness becomes more easily available to us when we most need it, when for example, we feel down, lost, depressed, or anxious, lost in compulsive activity of the rational mind.
These moments of natural goodness give us a small holiday from our suffering. It momentarily changes the context of our lives. For a moment we step out of the darkness of our ignorance and allow ourselves to connect with the oneness, the wonder of being here.
You remember once again that you are the infinite blue sky, clear and infinite, and realise that everything else is just the ever-changing weather.
