Everyday wonders and miracles

Every day we are engaged in a miracle… a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.— "The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Tich Nhat Hanh

Vietnamese monk Thích Nhất Hạnh, who passed away on January 22, 2022, at the age of 95, was one of the foremost teachers of Zen Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation. Having joined a monastery at age 16 in 1942, the spiritual leader spent most of his life studying, practicing, and spreading the Buddhist principles of nonviolence and awareness. He was an author, poet, artist, and peace activist with a gift for distilling ancient Buddhist philosophies into accessible daily practices. His teachings helped people all around the world to slow down, catch their breath, and enjoy the present moment.

 When I was younger, I used to lay down in the meadow on beautiful sunny days, to rest from whatever chore we were doing on the farm that day. I would lie still, listening to the insects, and the breeze and I would soak in the smells of nature. From time-to-time clouds would float by and I would begin to draw shapes in my head. I would see the horse, the hidden face, the whisp of a young girl's hair. I would get lost in the miracles of the universe that I saw unfolding in front of me. If I had the luxury of time, I would begin to create stories that featured the shape of the clouds that drifted before my eyes. This I later learned was left-brain thinking and all creative people have it and use it to help them create. They see and hear what most of us miss, but I think that all children have this innate ability.

 As I grew older, I found I had less and less time to spend in this type of pursuit and soon my days of creating stories and painting pictures in my mind were left behind for more right-brain activities, I was lucky because I held on to that ability and later on in life,  I was able to use left-brain thinking to solve problems my right brain could not solve.