Being Out In it, Or Being In It

Today I am grateful for comfortable socks and my feet to put those socks on. I am also grateful for milder morning temperatures today after a few chilly starts.

Those milder temperatures made it more inviting for me to do one of my favorite things . . . sit on our front patio in the early morning. I hear the birds and our fountain. I see street lights and cloudy skies.
I feel the dampness and a slight chill, but also the warmth of my sweatshirt and other layers.

I love being outside. I especially love this time of the day. The early mornings when the world around me is slowly welcoming the hours ahead. Nature knows a good pace. I can't always say the same for myself and the way I approach my days.

Simply sitting quietly and noticing, attending, focusing on nothing but now; this is very important time.  I realize that as much as I enjoy being outside, there are plenty of times when I am just out in it. Still busy in my head, still multi-tasking, still counting steps. Lacking presence even if I am taking in some fresh air.

True presence is more than being out in it. True presence is being in it. Being in this moment and nowhere else. Being without judgment or thought. Being. Pausing.

Sure, any fresh air is good. Any steps are exercise. But true sustenance and nourishment come in the stillness, the pauses between an inhale and an exhale.

The birds, the changing light, the dampness . . . they all tell me I am alive and blessed. They tell me I have all that I need and want. Right here, right now, I am right with the world.


Comments