WEEK 70

God, what guidance do you have for me today? How might I live in joy, today? 

Move through the day with the speed of clouds 

that are moving slowly  

  across  

the sky. 

Do not hurry. Not today.  

And if the impulse to hurry does come, 

remember this guidance, 

take a deep breath, and let the impulse pass through. 

Remember, you do have enough time to get 

to where you are going…  

like the clouds. 

Also,  

Do not allow anything to disturb your 

peace. Do not be bothered by the small missteps 

of this day when they occur. 

Take it all in stride as a normal part of  

the human experience and move on, 

like the steady movement of clouds 

crossing the sky. 

Also,  

really feel the weather today. 

Whatever it is, do something to acknowledge 

your awake-ness to its inherent divinity, power 

and beauty. Appreciate it, celebrate it. 

Sit in the sun, dance in the rain… play in 

the snow, sing, or simply stand with 

arms outstretched to honor this blessing of day. 

Finally,  

gather joy from each encounter and each activity 

 you experience today, no matter the challenge or ease. 

At the end of the day, count your blessings,  

if you can. 

Then, give thanks for your march through this day… 

a march like clouds across the grand  

skies  

of life. 

Evening Reflection 

I am beginning this response in the morning because it demands it. I am sitting on the deck of a hotel room with my wife, in Breckinridge, Colorado looking at the pristine snow, the tall pines, and the leafless aspens; I am feeling the heat of the sun on my face while looking up, watching beautiful clouds slowly, majestically march across the sky. Ahh… a perfect morning, I think silently.

We both want coffee and Jeannine offers to make some. Soon after she goes inside I hear, “Oh no!””

“What?” I inquired.

It turned out I had bought whole bean coffee instead of ground at the store last night. So, we couldn’t use the coffee machine. One of life’s little missteps already!
 “Oh well,” she said. “Let’s try the hotel coffee in the lobby.” We did, and it was good. It was a joy. We sat on the balcony recognizing the divinity and beauty of the morning.
 Next is skiing- as we slowly marched ourselves into the day, much like the clouds overhead.

10:00pm

Watch out for what the guidance calls you to! I had a whopper of a day; one of blessing, joy…and missteps, not just the morning coffee one.
 The mountain was magnificent. The gondola felt like what I imagined a slow moving cloud moving over the earth would feel like, if I could ride a cloud. Taking the clouds into my being, skiing was like moving through clouds of white powder.

I had read my guidance to my wife, and as we were deciding to go on an unknown black diamond run for our first run of the day, she said, “I think you should follow the guidance.” I smiled. I knew that as still a relatively new skier, and not knowing the mountain, since it was my first time there, she was hinting for me to take a less treacherous looking run. I did.

Another first time experience and joy was skiing above tree line. The whole scene awed me. Then, I saw several very young kids skiing the run and I laughed. It was another realization that we are all on different paths and timings in life.

Several other joys followed during the course of the day. I saw two foxes in a tree-lined section as we skied. Then they ran right across my path just a few feet away! As evening dawned, I saw an incredible full moon hiding behind clouds with the silhouette of the mountains in the foreground and could keep taking this in as my wife and I enjoyed a great dinner. Today was joy after joy after joy.

The missteps? I fell trying a skill I’d never done. Moguls. The joy was that I learned from it. Also, during our dinner I forgot to offer my wife a taste of the wine I ordered.
 But, thankfully, there was some left when I did remember. As I always offer right away, I had some cloud-like moving on to do.

But the missteps do not hold a candle to the joys experienced today. Not by a long shot. Can I count the joys today? No. They just all became like one huge beautiful cloud of joy moving through the day.
 As we wound down we went to the hotel Jacuzzi on a patio deck. As I looked up there they were! Clouds, still marching slowly across the sky! I wondered where the clouds were that I saw this morning. I figured, wherever they were now is where they were supposed to be. And so am I.

So, today there were lots of joys and a few missteps. There was some learning, fun, sharing new adventures and enjoying great food. It was a day of experiencing heaven on earth, up on a mountain with snow and sun and blue sky.

And you?