Sunday morning I noticed my mind going into a frenzy of worry about some small thing and decided to take a walk.  After walking awhile I stopped at the fountain in Malcolm X Park to watch a family of ducks.  Watching the ducks reminded me of standing and breathing with the nuns in Plum Village (Stillness is a Door), silent and still, with enough inner space to know that I was alive and part of an amazing world.

I remembered other times when I felt alert and undistracted, attentive, and happy to be alive.

One of the first times I remember being fully present was watching animals in the Serengeti  when we lived in Tanzania.  I was riveted, absorbed.  All of existence was in those hours.

Connections with ancient cultures can draw me in and lead to a sense of timelessness:

~ standing with monks at a monastery in Ladakh

~ stooping to touch a Paleolithic Stone Age implement from the floor of the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia

~ coming into close contact with what remains of our ancestors’ lives

Sights of the earth’s simple majesty often slow me down, wake me up:

~ a dirt path anywhere in the world

~ goats

~and trees

When I can remember to stop, breathe, and notice where I am, I enjoy being alive right now in this incredible universe.