Awareness of What?

Especially now, as I await anxiously the impending arrival of my niece, I am quite aware of this.

We do not know where our days will take us.  We do not know what our moments will bring.  We plan and ponder, flail and fall, dream and do, and act...and react.  

Perhaps it is not what we are doing - volunteering or working for a large chain, earning money to put food on the table or earning it for the next vacation - but how aware of, how awake we are to that which we are doing - who we are being, that dictates the quality of our experience in life.

I find that I can be having the "worst" things around me - pain, suffering, challenges to the foundation of my life - and have a peaceful day....or can have the "best" things around me - free time to nap, plenty of food, happy children - and have a stressful day.  It is not the events nor the things that dictate my mood, my actions, and consequently, who I am....  

It is the awareness I have of the "me" that is experiencing those things and how gently I hold her...or how lethargically I slip back into believing those other things are me, are my life.

I leave you with this monumental thought in hopes that today, even if for a moment, you will slip into a flow on your breath and feel this bit of peace.

Namaste.