Listen for Life's Sweetness

A friend and teacher say this one day in class years ago. I quickly wrote it down because it sounded so beautiful that I wanted to remember it. Later, I wrote it down and stuck it to my fridge as a reminder. Back then, it meant that when I paid attention, even on the bad days, life was good.

Now, I apply it more to the quality that arises in meditation or mindfulness practice. Both of those practices require becoming still enough to really listen, and when we become that still and silent, something wonderful happens. Life's sweetness can be heard in the whisper of my own heart. The song of the birds in a still and early morning. In the glint of sun flowing golden through translucent leaves. I feel it in the warmth of the sand that cradles my body, and the cool breezes that gently sweep through me reminding me I'm alive.

Life is so sweet, and when I pay attention, even on the bad days, life is still good.