Dear Reader:

Isn’t it strange how the angle of a view in a mirror changes everything? Normally I sit in the dining chair, closest to the kitchen… which means my back is to this mirror while eating.

But yesterday I had fixed a bowl of soup and decided to open up the dining room window (so warm and pretty outside) to let the outside in. After doing so…I plopped down on the opposite side of the table with my bowl of soup… which afforded me this view of the mirror and the reflection of my “Happy Room” (den) bouncing off of it.

I blinked twice to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing….I had no idea that the mirror reflected a section of the den from the upper level dining area. I mean, all these years of living here, and one change altered and offered me a whole new perspective on my home. Wow!

Since my original diagnosis of breast cancer….my perception of life, itself, has changed, just as dramatically as the incident at the dining table. I now see the intricacies of daily life in a broader scheme than my earlier limited vision. How did I never pick up on those wild flowers growing in my side yard or the azalea bush behind the garage that had grown larger than the first story of the garage itself?

I was so caught up in the busyness of life that I forgot to pause and look around me….in fact I forgot to simply look down.

When the cold snap hit last week (before I left for Edisto) I hauled “Big Red’  and the poinsettias into the B&B side of the house so they wouldn’t freeze while I was gone. With the first warm day (Monday) I brought them back out and they looked like children happy to be outside playing again .

Even though the front porch looked rather stark without flowers on it ….if anyone had peeked through the front window they would have seen “Big Red” looking out the window from the inside and all the poinsettias decorating the dining room table. (Like people…sometimes we need to give things a second glance, a second chance to see the bright light within and then help them bloom.)

Recognizing the divine spark or light in other people runs along this same line of thinking. We enjoy some people’s company more than others, for many different reasons, perhaps similar tastes, personalities, backgrounds, or whatever…but if we ever stop to find their light within….we would recognize it as the same as ours…the common denominator of being human and a child of God.

Here is an excerpt from this week’s Awakin Weekly….thoughts shared by Eknath Easwaran.

“The Same Self is in All of Us.“

The same spark of divinity–this same Self–is enshrined in every creature. My real Self is not different from yours nor anyone else’s. If we want to live in the joy that increases with time, if we want to live in true freedom independent of circumstances, then we must strive to realize that even if there are four people in our family or forty at our place of work, there is only one Self.

This realization enables us to learn to conduct ourselves with respect to everyone around us, even if they provoke us or dislike us or say unkind things about us. And that increasing respect will make us more and more secure. It will enable us gradually to win everybody’s respect, even those who disagree with us or seem disagreeable.

…We can learn to respond always to the Self within–focusing not on the other person’s ups and downs, likes and dislikes, but always on what is changeless in each of us. Then others grow to trust us. They know they can count on us–and that makes us more secure too.

We can try to remember this always: the same Self that makes us worthy of respect and love is present equally in everyone around us. It is one of the surest ways I know of to make our latent divinity a reality in daily life.

……………………………

So until tomorrow….”Be kind to Everyone…For we are all fighting a hard battle.” (Plato) We must remember, as humans, we are more alike than different….equally loved by our Creator.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I must admit that on the recent chilly, overcast mornings we have all experienced,  I have been reluctant to make the transition from “Old Pinky”  (the bathrobe) to getting dressed.

The last two days, however, with predictions in the sixties with the sun shining bright, have sent me scampering to get dressed and just enjoy life. A friend sent me this cartoon from Facebook… which pretty much sums it all up.