enraptured in the moment

While playing with my son, these days I tend to notice how him at play becomes completely enraptured and absorbed in the present moment. With pure, unclouded fascination, they fully immerse themselves in the sheer bliss and wonder of whatever captures their interest and imagination. As adults, we too often lose touch with that innocent capacity for soul-reverent joy and presence. Our daily routines and obligations cast a sort of seriousness trance over us, causing us to forget the soul-igniting passions and curiosities that once set our hearts afire. We start listening more to the voices of duty, fear and resignation rather than the spontaneous movements of our own authentic enthusiasm and excitement. We resign ourselves to lives of quiet desperation, sacrificing our deepest aliveness on the altars of conformity and responsibility. Yet our callings, our most vibrant soul-seedlings, lie patiently waiting to be revived and nourished.

They never truly abandon us, but rather remain as smoldering embers within, hoping to be stoked by the breath of our loving attunement once again. Just as a bonfire needs an endless supply of fuel to stay alight, our souls require the continual kindling of pursuits that impassion us and spark our unique creative genius. When we withhold that sustenance by disregarding or denying our true joys, we slowly dim our radiance and inner luster as beings. A chance encounter with a book, a piece of music, a work of art or even just the play of light through a forest’s canopy can be the spark that breathes life into the embers of our long-suppressed inspiration. From there, simply staying in intimate regard with that ignited passion and serving it with wholehearted devotion will cause it to blaze with increasing intensity. For consciousness ever follows the tenor of our deepest interests and prayerful pursuits. What we most revere and adore, we become. So if your life currently feels extinguished and monochrome, like a dead campfire’s ashen greys, cease looking outside yourself for the perfect set of reigniting circumstances. Simply turn your gaze inward and ask your heart “What rekindles my joy and childlike awe of existence? What activities and interests resuscitate me with their thrillingly alive textures of being?” Then follow those clues relentlessly down their luminous trails, allowing each encounter with beauty, intrigue, and breathtaking mystery to refuel your soul’s ascendant resurrection fires. For as you do, you’ll burn away the soot of accumulated fears and stale stories to rebirth yourself into the radiant, infinitely faceted shape of your most wild and rapturous essence.

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