If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with the flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key.” – Buddha

In the late 1990’s, when I arrived to live and work in Guatemala, I first went to language school up in the highlands. It was cold up there and so I’d go to my Spanish lessons bundled up in several layers of shirts, a sweater, and a jacket. Before our 1:1 class time with our teachers, we would all get a hot cup of coffee to wrap our hands around while we practiced our Spanish.

One morning, I arrived, got my cup of coffee, and sat down at the desk in the open-air school with my teacher. It was a cool morning. The mist was still settled in the mountains. I had walked to school on the quiet streets of Quetzaltenango where the city was just waking up.

My teacher asked me, “Como amaneciste?”

I didn’t understand her. I tried to figure out the verb but couldn’t. Then, my teacher, who spoke some English, told me its meaning: “How did you greet the dawn?”

HOW. DID. YOU. GREET. THE. DAWN.

From the moment I heard this way of greeting someone in the morning, I was enamored with it. The elegance, the regard, the connection to nature, the quiet, the mutual exchange weaved into this question.

It’s a beautiful question: how did you greet the dawn?

Sometimes we greet the dawn from already being up for hours in the middle of the darkness of night because we are worried about our job or finances, we are grieving the loss of a loved one or a failed relationship, we are taking care of a child with a fever, or we are feeling anxious about difficult conversation we have to have the following day.

Sometimes we greet the dawn having slept well and ready to go. Sometimes we greet the dawn and want to immediately roll over and go back to sleep.

Sometimes we greet the dawn with hope. Sometimes we greet the dawn with despair.

Sometimes we greet the dawn with gratitude for another day.

However you greet the dawn, it’s worth it to take a few moments to BE RIGHT HERE. To connect with your breath. To make contact with your heart. To notice how your body is feeling. To notice what it may need today that might be different than yesterday. To be gentle and kind with yourself.

Spending time nurturing yourself is an investment in humanity! Your calm, loving presence will impact those around you that you greet today.

Check out my podcast, Delightful: two episodes: 58. How You Start Your Day Matters and  59. How Did You Greet the Dawn for two guided morning meditation experiences of soothing your nervous system and connecting to your body, mind, and heart — setting you up for a more grounded and focused day.

I

I’d love to sign off with a poem for you:

Today is a New Day

Today is a new day.

I begin this day
with my hand on my heart –

breathing in kindness,
breathing out kindness.
I choose to softly smile.

Relaxing my shoulders,
I know that God accompanies me
wherever I go.
I am loved –
deeply, tenderly, completely.

I let this love flow from me
as an offering to all those
I will greet today.

Today is a beautiful day.

Lisa McCrohan
© 2021, Your Light is Rising

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