"Hope is the thing with feathers,
that perches in the soul, and sings the
tune without the words, and never
stops at all."
Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
Through self-discovery, I realized some emotions were quite foreign to me. For example, joy. When asked about this feeling, I could readily identify two events in my life, so I had a sense of what this emotion meant, but only as a spectator. The word hope, for me, was closely associated with childhood and was reserved for describing the emotions of others.
So giving my lovely self permission, I allowed my eyes to open to the experience of both joy and hope as though I were a young child. Instead of blandly navigating through my day, I moved rather slowly finding appreciation for small incidental things. Instead of just noticing the bird singing outside of my window, I took pause and sincerely gave the moment all of my attention. I looked through the flowering branches trying to locate the bird now singing. Once discovered, I let the song flow into my heart which lightened my perspective. I then watched the song bird fly to the fence and a part of me flew with it. In the slightest of moments, I felt joy in the freedom of both song and flight. Hope was soon to follow as the bird disappeared and hope blossomed as I longed to see and hear this bird again.
It was amazing to me how I could block out joy and hope for years, and then within moments, experience them both. It is important for me to remember that these two feelings were triggered by first giving appreciation. Can life be altered so easily, by simply shifting our perception and observation? In expanding our awareness of what surrounds us, instead of shutting it out could very well be the key to balance the trials before us.
If we find ourselves longing for a fuller life, let's give permission to open to life moment by moment. To slowly travel through each day, allowing time for the incidental to take forms of joy and hope, as though we were once again a child.
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