Put Yourself On Notice

“Looking at beauty in the world is the first step of purifying the mind.” -Amit Ray

“We should remember that even Nature’s inadvertence has its own charm, its own attractiveness. The way loaves of bread split open on top in the oven; the ridges are just by-products of the baking, and yet pleasing, somehow: they rouse our appetite without our knowing why.
Or how ripe figs begin to burst.
And olives on the point of falling: the shadow of decay gives them a peculiar beauty.
Stalks of wheat bending under their own weight. The furrowed brow of the lion. Flecks of foam on the boar’s mouth.
And other things. If you look at them in isolation there’s nothing beautiful about them, and yet by supplementing nature they enrich it and draw us in. And anyone with a feeling for nature—a deeper sensitivity—will find it all gives pleasure. Even what seems inadvertent. He’ll find the jaws of live animals as beautiful as painted ones or sculptures. He’ll look calmly at the distinct beauty of old age in men, women, and at the loveliness of children. And other things like that will call out to him constantly—things unnoticed by others. Things seen only by those at home with Nature and its works.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention -Mary Oliver

Wanna change your mood? Get into a charged state? Have more gratitude?

Put yourself and the world around you, on notice.

A little primer…

Close your eyes.

Start with your thoughts. Notice those. Without judging them. Just notice.

Then, notice your body. How do you feel? Any aches and pains? Again, don’t judge the feelings. Just notice.

Notice your breath. In and out. In and out. In and out. Notice.

Notice your emotions.

Notice your five senses.

Again, no judgment. Just notice.

Then go outside and take a little walk. Notice every single thing you see. The sky, the birds, the trees, the falling leaves, the wet grass, the wind on your face.

Notice. Notice. Notice.

Repeat the above sequence as many times as necessary.

And read this beautiful poem from Mary Oliver…

Poem 133: The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?