It is Friday, how are you today? Happy sunny wishes to start your day!
A look at the past, poignant yet alluring, we are drawn to explore, to wander to be awed. Another time, a time when life was very different from what it is today. Shetland Islands, Scotland Does it capture your imagination, snare your attention, do you want to walk the path that so many have walked in bygone years, Even now, today there are echos of visitors footsteps and the sound of distant conversation as people went about their day.
We live our lives everyday with a certain routine, we take certain roads, drive or walk along streets we see every day. If you work and take a bus to work, it is usually the same bus and it follows the same route, day after day. We shop in the same malls, or go to the usual markets all the time. Do you put your heart into all you do? Or because we have done it a thousand times before, so you just get it done? In Asian teachings, we are asked to put our best effort into everything we do, whether or not it is a daily and repetitive task/chore or not.
While in Japan this past summer, in one of our assignments we were asked to do certain tasks, depending on which group you were in, the tasks were different, some got to wash the bathrooms, some got to clean mats, sweep the roads, my group was asked to wash the hall floors. Teachers, students, professionals, we all grabbed rags and down on our knees we cleaned the floors inch by inch. (Noooooooooooooo I do not do this at home, it wasn’t a task I perform on a regular basis and certainly not on my knees, so what do you think my immediate reaction was!) Old and young, we applied ourselves to working together and doing it. Those who could no longer get down to the floor due to age, or physical limitations, manned the buckets, and rinsed the rags, ringing them out to hand to us as we brought a used one back. Getting up and down from our knees and working in unison we chanted to stay focused and in step with each other. To a city born and bred woman, it peeled away layers of self imposed thought patterns and opened up space in my “brain” for a greater and deeper awareness of being alive and experiencing life.
This picture of Dublin in Ireland had me looking at it several times and finally with a magnifier because of the way the photographer shot the picture and how my eyes were seeing it. The lights reflecting off the water had me wondering and trying to discern just what that was going across the river. On closer inspection and because I made time to really look, I saw that it was the reflection of the bridge,
Today lets take the time, (make time) to enjoy every second of our day, even if you are doing something you have always done before, try to be mindful of your actions. Put makoto (sincerity) into all you do and say, Have a good day everyone! Where ever you are in your day when you read this.. smile.. I’m sending lots of love and positive energy your way… always, today, tomorrow. Blessings….. Oyashikiri
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Written
on August 19, 2013