I believe the complete appreciation of the present moment is the greatest wisdom I have ever received. To breathe into the experience of the here and now, the only moment that exists. When I fully embraced this wisdom I stopped wishing any time away and also ceased living in the past.
It is easy in life to have our own plans and agendas. To place our needs and wants above everything else, even the beauty of the flower we might ignore even though it blooms beautifully right before us.
But when cancer caused me to slow down, I began to see the world all around me with new eyes in all its beauty and in all its fleeting glory. I understood in new ways that every moment counts because every moment could be my last.
Every moment is precious, even when we are not able to do exactly what we want or exactly what we wish. These moments all harbor great wisdom if we simply stay open and available to their lessons. Perhaps the moment you get cut off in traffic and are unable to reach the important meeting on time is the universe providing your protection. In these moments, instead of experiencing frustration it is wise to surrender to what is not in our control and see what wisdom can be gleaned from a particular setback or interruption.
There is also great wisdom and peace to be gained when we realize that there is so much we don’t understand and don’t need to understand. Knowing that each moment we survive, each moment we learn, each moment we respond to our situations there is wisdom to be gained. Being still and accepting new ideas and new ways we find through our experience is the best kind of wisdom because it is felt with the heart and experienced by the body, mind, and spirit.
Rarely have I found wisdom in books.
I have lived a life full of moments, some are sad, others happy. Yet, the ones that are the most memorable and most precious to me are the ones when I have gained wisdom. And the beauty of this knowledge is that it only takes a single deep breath to switch your mind from all the chaos to the clarity that wisdom brings.