When your life is filled with the desire to see the holiness in everyday life, something magical happens: ordinary life becomes extraordinary, and the very process of life begins to nourish your soul!
-Rabbi Harold Kushner
What is your life filled with the desire to see?
We go through life experiencing a series of highs and lows: praise and criticism, hugs and rejection, certainty and confusion. Sometimes we feel flat, lost, bored. And, these circumstances usually determine the quality of our lives. We are happy when good things happen and sad when bad things happen. We say, “it’s not fair” when someone hurts us, and we say, “life is beautiful” when we experience or observe random acts of kindness. We don’t realize that we are riding an emotional and spiritual roller coaster.
Rabbi Kushner says, “something magical happens” when we choose to see the holiness in every day life. This means changing our thinking a bit. This means seeing holiness in all the little things that make up our lives: making breakfast, taking a shower, going to the grocery store, having a conversation with a loved one. It also means seeing holiness in the challenges, the despair, the pain and the loss. It doesn’t means that we don’t feel pain, but we see it as part of something bigger than ourselves.
The magical thing that happens is presence and loving awareness. As we begin to experience the holiness of every moment, every person, every thing, we begin to see the beauty of every moment…not just the beauty of the beautiful moments, but even the beauty of the difficult and challenging moments. Perhaps our pain allows us to help others who are in pain. Perhaps our pain teaches us something new and profound about ourselves. Perhaps our pain wakes us up and keeps us present.
Ask yourself, “What do I have the desire to see?” And, what you choose to see, you will see.
Here is an audio exercise that you might find helpful.
Blessings
Tara Zafft, Ph.D. 