An Awe Walk

A moment of surprise with an open and curious mind creates awe to me. Seeing a child smiling, a flower blooming, watching the cloud sailing in the vast blue sky, seeing a lotus smiling in the muddy water, children giggling with no reason, and a friend showing up unannounced brings surprising and joyful feelings of awe in my heart. I welcome them as guests gratefully. When I keep the door of my mind and heart open, a new arrival comes with a gift of awe and wonderment. I sit near a window in my study room and I see clouds coming and going, birds chirping, leaves changing colors. When my mind is free and is unoccupied by past thoughts and feelings and not worrying about the future, I am in the here and now consciousness. I see the panaroma of natural sights and sounds and it offers me gifts of awe, joy and wonderment. There is a beautiful saying in Sanskrit: kshne khshe yat nanvatam upeti tadeva roopam ramanniyataha: Beauty is that brings newness every moment. It is not easy to live in the here and now consciousness. Mind gets occupied by past pleasant and unpleasant memories and imaginations or worries about the future. Mindfulness of what is going in the mind and heart without being bound by these thoughts and judgements creates witnessing consciousness and it helps me to see wonders of the present moment. In such moments, the dividing line between you and me fades away and it creates moments of here and now wonderment. Namaste! Jagdish P Dave