In this moment

I sit here looking out at a green tunnel that focuses my eyes on an azure sky framed in fairy tale white clouds.  A cool breeze wafts in through the windows and the leaves on the trees dance gently to make shadow stories on the grass.

I cannot hear the sea here in the Heartlands, but the wind rolling in across the flat farm lands in the distance is our version of tranquility.

In this moment life is good.  In fact, it is stunningly beautiful.

These are the moments that help me walk through life in relative happiness.  I can almost always find them anywhere I happen to be if I am able to let go of everything else for the space of a breath or two and just look.

Tiny oases in a world full of obligations and concerns, they are here for the taking.  "Breathing in, I calm my body.  Breathing out, I smile." There is more to this little poem from Thich Nhat Hanh, but these remind me of the rest even when the words fail to come to me.

Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment.

One tiny moment at a time I can survive almost anything and over time I can even enjoy life when in the midst of a storm.

All of those seemingly trite phrases I have heard through the years can be irritating, but four simple words have been life savers for me.  This too shall pass.

Using these two coping mechanisms together has given me a form of living that borders on magic when I look back.  They are ways of being that ease the way and like all things they become more natural and more a part of me as moments go on.