Think back to a time in your childhood when you felt gleeful, when you felt like you could stay in that place forever.
Was it making angels in the snow, smelling cookies baking, when you came home from school, hearing a special story re-read to you by one of the most wonderful people in your life?
Or, perhaps, was it when you picked a perfect flower or a vegetable you'd planted as a seed, or when you sold your last cup of lemonade at your curbside lemonade stand, or was it holding your brand-new puppy for the first time or getting the exact gift you wanted for your birthday? How about when you were lying on the grass cloud-watching and wondering why they were moving like they did or who was moving them?
Or, maybe, you have your own special memories tucked away.
Can you feel right now like you felt back then? Memories like these make us feel good, satisfied, content, calm and connected to ourselves. When we take the time to recall them, they can change a day for us. When we share them at special times, we can enrich a relationship.
We're all searching for connections to ourselves and others, whether visual, physical, social or even ones we can just sense. Each of us individually is truly the only one who really knows what we need to feel complete and whole. When we speak about the mind, body and spirit connection, I think we are talking about aligning all parts of ourselves to be the very best we can be; perhaps, this also means we call in a higher power, or believe in something that we cannot see and, yet, we know is there. The miracles that show up in my life are, I believe, to show me that there is a spiritual component in my life. When I discover that the Universe is with me, I am excited and have to pay attention to that.
The other night I drove into my garage and soon realized that I did not have my house keys. They were not in the drawer of my car where I usually keep them. I could neither get into the building nor into my apartment. I was stunned; it was after 11 pm. I certainly didn't want to bother Lily, our manager, who is a wonderful, vital 86 year old. So I called a neighbor, who wasn't home. Now, I had no choice. Feeling desperate, I dialed Lily's number. Luckily, she was still up, reading. She graciously let me in, asked if my keys had any identification, which they didn't and told me not to worry.
I honestly couldn't remember putting them in the usual place, but somehow I just knew I'd dropped those keys in the grass, before I'd gotten in my car. I realized I had not been paying attention; I'd disconnected from my mind and body.
I went out at 2 am with a flash light to check. No keys. I started to imagine all the places they could have fallen out of my car.
I even began to make a new key ring for myself, before I finally went to bed.
The next morning at 10:30 Lily called with "good news." A woman who lives in the building next to ours had picked my keys up in the grass the night before and had just brought them over. I thanked the Universe with a deep feeling of gratitude and acknowledged that I'd had another miracle in my life.
Some people believe that they can manifest what they want. That definitely involves paying attention to how they direct their thoughts and connect to their knowingness.
I know that some call attention by another name, mindfulness. I could say that before I drove away, I had been out of my mind. But before I went to bed, I was present again; I knew that my keys were somewhere in the grass. I know that our attention is the most powerful personal tool we have. Only when we pay positive, quality attention to something or someone do we create a connection.
When we pay attention and stay in our minds and bodies, we have less drama and stress in our lives. We find more opportunities to feel good, joyful, content and whole. And we find more time to create new memories full of glee and wonder.