I was sitting at my friend’s quiet farm table when I remembered the way to write when I don’t feel like it or think I have something significant enough to say. Just start.

Then Jesse-dog came over and sat on my feet, as if to say, stay awhile longer. The truth is, in 45 years, I can’t recall ever having a dog sit on my feet before. For a quarter of my life I lived mostly afraid of dogs. It was humbling to watch that fear fade. It was another one of those difficult ephiphanies that what I experienced outside of me was often a reflection of what was actually happening inside of me. In other words, not scary dog, scared Raynna. But I’m glad for it.

It Felt Love
by Hafiz

How did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too frightened

It seems impossible at times to see with accuracy where we are, what a gift when sight comes. I’ll never forget the moment I first had this thought, enabled to look out across a ravine to another mountain from where I was standing. I realized if the hiker over yonder looked up he’d be able to see me, my position on the mountain, better than I could. Likewise, I could see him, his surroundings, the distance he had come, and how far he had to reach the summit, better than he could.

I Suppose this is why the ability to notice is so special in what can feel like ordinary days. It doesn’t seem significant at the time usually, noticing a feeling in our shoulders or a particular kind of seed blowing in the wind across the path in front of us, but it’s an actual lens we can utilize to see where we are on our maps. These little awarenesses tell us whether we are stressed or relaxed, whether we are in the months of Spring or Autumn.

Sometimes it seems like there are people who possess the art of noticing and are more conscious than I seem to know how, other times I realize I just picked up on a micro facial expression that occurred in all of less than half a second and I know I need to leave. What wonder.

Sometimes we think we’ve gone for a walk in the woods but in consideration of the wars that wage within us we’d do better to imagine ourselves in a fighter jet.

Other times our bodies may be so busy and in the flow of life we don’t recognize how our spirit is free, at rest, with ease at a soul-level, that thing we kept traveling “into the forest” to find… living in us now. We’ve never been closer.

So, if we get a glimpse today, of ourselves, whether through the glimmer in the eye of a beloved or a pet’s affection, or a faint whisper from somewhere in our body, maybe we can pause and notice. It may be need that presents or it may be joy. Either and any is worthy, of noticing. These tiniest of moments might just be the beginning of the grandest of adventures, though it seems we can hardly know it then…

Seeking to notice more, with you, today…

Love,
Raynna

P.S. If you know someone who might feel like they are in some “ordinary days” with elevator music as their theme song but you have a hunch they are likely writing an epic adventure with sheet music out-of-sight & unbeknownst to them, pass on some loving noticing, please! It’s basically saved my life. We never know what a little loving will do…

Also, my latest book, The Love Writings , once-a-month book club meets again today! It’s a come-when-you-can, every-meeting-not-required kind of gathering. If you’d like an intimate opportunity to discuss the writings and grow together, click the box below to sign up for more info (held via zoom)… whether later today or next month, hope to see you there!