Beautiful moments happen all the time. But sometimes we miss them. After all, life’s modern pace is hurried. As such, we can become lost in routine, malaise, detachment.
When I find myself uninspired, I retreat into the depth of my being. I ask my soul to help me see. Because only from a rooted place can our eyes perceive from a meaningful perspective.
Here, time stills and stretches to a realm of grace. Also, the soul transmutes what the mind may consider tragic into beauty. Forever, these moments etch into your life’s story. You can no more divorce them than you can detach your heart and turn it to stone.
Today, I have chosen eight powerful symphonies of presence for you to enjoy. Each is a tiny universe of wonder. My hope is that it opens the portal for you to reflect on your own.
We are all blessed with life’s magic.
In the year 2003, I took a trip to Half Moon Bay, California. Immediately, I was drawn to a quaint bookstore. As I entered, I felt pulled to a short book, Practicing the Power of Now. I purchased it. Devoured Eckhart Tolle’s words in one spellbinding sitting.
His spiritual message split my life into two acts. In this vein, it taught me how to detach from my mind and its pain. I was then able to access presence. The following beautiful moments all occurred beyond reading his book.
Beautiful Moments Seen Through the Soul
The Wheelchair Ride
When I worked as a teacher in Los Angeles, I would stand near a gate waiting for my students to arrive. Most parents walked their children to school. But one little girl rode with her father…in his wheelchair. As the palm trees cast sunlit sparkles on their faces, they laughed with a radiance that beamed past the sun.
It took everything for me not to cry each day. Because what existed between them was an indescribable beauty. The kind that tells you no matter life’s obstacles, there is more and more and more Love to be known, experienced, kept close.
One wheelchair, one father, and one daughter merged into one moving soulful portrait.
I will never forget it.
Joshua Tree Fourth of July
Los Angeles can shine as a creative maven or a chaotic mess. My best friend, Hunter, and I grappled with it daily when I lived there. We pined for an escape one Fourth of July.
And so, on a whim, we packed up and took a road trip to Joshua Tree. We were both youngish, imaginative, and carefree. There were many plot points on our journey that resonated this fact.
But then a soulful moment visited us. We ventured to the community’s Fourth of July celebration. It twinkled like a slice of wholesome Americana. The mayor said a few words. The people were friendly. And the atmosphere glowed with serenity.
Hunter and I sat on a hill, slightly apart from it all. We didn’t speak. Instead, we shared a silent moment and observed life from afar.
Fireworks painted the skyline like artistic dreams. We both held so many of our own.
And in that moment, presence renewed hope.
So did our friendship.
The Merry-Go-Round Glow
My extended family has known quite a heaping load of trauma and grief. At times, this familial dark cloud precludes presence. A mother’s heart always suffers for her children. Powerlessness is a difficult entity to heal.
But one day close to Christmas, I sat on a rocking chair inside a magical building in West Point. I rocked, and rocked, and rocked. Before me, a merry-go-round spun round. It carried my mom on a shimmering horse with her grandchildren perched around her.
As she flew up and down, her smile glowed in a way that surpassed the heartache of this earth. Instead, it grew wings, heaven-sent, and soared to me. I placed her presence in my soul for safe-keeping.
Whenever I know she’s grieving, I replay that image in my mind. Then, I send it quietly as Love and light to her.
The Grocery Storybook Moment
Some beautiful moments happen in the most common places. You don’t need to book a luxury vacation to find them.
It took my husband and I fourteen years to marry. And our private wedding in Sedona was beyond beautiful. But this memory warms me on the coldest days.
One week after our nuptials, we met at the grocery store. From across the florescent lights, the people, the produce, we gazed at each other with fresh eyes. Then, we smiled brighter than the colors surrounding us. True, we were on a mere shopping trip. But now as a married couple.
Love had traveled through time, and ripened us in pure magic.
Noah Love
One week after my wedding, my sister, Kristi, delivered a baby boy with a rare disorder, Rubenstein Taybi Syndrome. I flew to Florida to be with her. Then, powerless, I watched as a mother’s heart fielded shock, heartache, and worry for an unknown future.
But then came the calm–a beautiful moment of stillness. I entered the NICU for the first time and gazed at her devotion to a child destined to become her soul’s greatest companion. As she held his tiny malformed thumb, loving tears fell. She christened him with her pure heart.
Indeed, she never left his side.
Nor has she.
Love in motion has not erased the pain.
Instead, Love has accepted the pain and promised to hold her son’s beauty forever above it.
Cali’s Homecoming
When my husband told me I would become a dog mom, I didn’t believe him. After all, I had experienced a complicated relationship with the creatures.
But the moment he placed our new yellow lab puppy on my lap to drive home, my soul warmed. Her tiny body shivered into me. I returned to that moment of holding my daughter, Summer, for the first time in my arms.
In a heartbeat, I knew. Cali would be the furry little love of my life.
Indeed, she has become my second child.
The Music Jam
As parents of children with special needs, your journey winds along a different path. You don’t measure milestones. Instead, you embrace “me-stones,” as your child grows at her or his unique pace.
You see with wise simple eyes. They know that sometimes the little things in life are more than enough.
The first time I attended a “music jam” these eyes not only served me but spoke.
At this event, children with special needs and their parents played instruments together. As the melody merged, Love hummed serene. And in that moment, our hearts beat with a profound oneness.
This sense of community uplifted me so much so, I cried.
You see, my wise simple eyes only knew how to speak in this way.
And it was beautiful.
Two Worlds Collide
Once upon a time, I was a teacher in Los Angeles. And I met a little girl, Amber, who was part old soul, part angel, and parts unknown. Synchronicity beamed her spiritual light into our future.
Amber traveled through years, miles, and marvels to return to me on the east coast and bring the most amazing gift. She became a sister to my daughter, Summer.
One day, I secretly watched them bounce on our trampoline in the backyard. High. Higher. Highest. Smiling. Giggling. Living.
Then, Amber rested on a big blue ball and Summer fell into her arms. They stayed there for a long time in that embrace.
Two worlds collided in one tender hug.
And my soul whispered…
Amber’s home.
Dust from a Farmer’s Plow
After reading Eckhart Tolle’s book, I experienced a shift. My first moment of vivid presence happened on a solitary drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Along the way, I passed a farmer plowing his golden field. As dust swirled with the sunlight, it mesmerized me.
Suddenly, I felt a marked renewal in my soul, as if I was living in a movie of my making. As such, everything glowed with presence. And I sensed my oneness with my surroundings on a cellular level.
When I returned home, I practiced being present in my life. Also, I crafted this poem to remember that first experience.
I hope my beautiful moments seen through the soul inspire you to reflect on your own. I am sure you have a treasure-trove as well.
Sending you my warmest wishes for inner peace and presence.
If you enjoyed this post, read these…
Time for Stillness
A Love Letter to Parents of Children with Special Needs
Pin to Pinterest to Keep this Post Close
The Power of Now
I read the short version, Practicing the Power of Now, and it impacted my life. If you are a short-read sort of person, check it out. However, if you want the longer more in-depth read, try The Power of Now.
Serene Music
I listened to this as I wrote Beautiful Moments Seen Through the Soul. Play and reread to enter this writer’s world.
