In truth it matters less what we do in practice than how and why we do it.
- Donna Farhi, New Zealand
How often you wake up to a dawn that is of your full consciousness? I found this a challenging question as I don't think I have ever really thought about doing anything as serious as contemplating on what kind of awareness that I intend to carry with me from the moment I put my feet on the bedroom floor. Let's face it - making up the bed is sometimes quite a task!
However, as prudish and "turning-the-big-30" is, I have embraced a new pattern of waking up to my day. To start with, I tune myself to loving the stillness of the early hours, honouring a full stretch of night rest, and never going to bed with unresolved issues in view that I want to (or intend?) to wake up smiling.
But I have never thought seriously about what kind of awareness I have wanted.
I took to my first violin lesson this morning and it was the most exhilarating, liberating, and grounding thing I have done. It felt so right, I felt like I have come home after wandering for so long looking in the other (wrong) direction. Yes, learning to hold the bow gracefully hurt quite a bit, but experiencing the vibration of the strings and sounds being one with my heart, almost bore a feeling similar to a long untapped inner spring of water that had leapt out of oblivion to feed my soul. I could play all day long (that will surely send my two terriers mad!), I will play again before I sleep.
Learning the E string could be so much fun, truly!
I am awake, I see not with my eyes, but with an awareness that I recognise now that every moment we can decide on how we interact with others, our environment, and most importantly, with ourselves.
Tomorrow's dawn, I will decide to interact with life positively and to be more open to new experiences. Not good or bad, but just experiences in their own form.
