Your Life is a Sacred Gift: Celebrate It!
Eckhart Tolle from Stillness Speaks: The moment you enter the Now with your attention, you realize that life is sacred. There is a sacredness to everything you perceive when you are present. The more you live in the Now, the more you sense the simple yet profound joy of Being and the sacredness of all life.
Forced into a sedentary life style this past year with a health challenge, I used the time to put my spiritual practice into action: Live in the present moment; accept instead of judge; and acknowledge a divine order. I did my best to live these principles. Today I feel deeply blessed because I could not have my current level of awareness and gratitude without going through this latest life challenge. I came away with a powerful recognition that life is a sacred expression of a Higher Power and a desire to acknowledge the sacredness of life every day.
You might be asking: How can life be sacred with the horrific things going on in the world today and human suffering running rampant? The challenge is to allow yourself to see beyond the forest to the Essence of what created it. It takes three elements to create a human being—Creator, mother and father. This Source also gave birth to the material universe. If you think of this Higher Power with your limited version of what is real and right, you limit your ability to feel the sacredness from which life springs. However, if you are able to be fully aware in the moment, put your judgments aside and not resist what is, you begin to BE with life as it is unfolding. An attitude of awe and sacredness emerges.
Mindful awareness may not feel easy to do but it is possible. As you suspend your egoic judgments and allow your mind and heart to accept what is, you are ready to turn your attention toward the sacred. Once you do this, you will tap into the divinity within yourself as well as see the divine expressing itself in the sensual realm of material reality.
Here are a few tips to help you acknowledge and celebrate the sacred:
Honor the miracle of who you are: From the universe of infinite possibilities, you were born into your personality. Celebrate the miracle of your uniqueness and express it. Connect with the God-part of you and feel the sacredness of this divine perfection: You are accepted unconditionally.
Be mindfully present: Turn your experiences into mindful meditations: walking in nature, gazing at a sunset, looking at a loved one, feeling a sense of accomplishment, feeling a part of a group, having gratitude for a positive outcome, or connecting with an epiphany. When you are fully present, your awareness is transformed.
Observe the sacred in nature: As you connect with the magnificence of nature, you lift your awareness beyond the physical. This perception enables you to see the masterful work of the Creator and honor it. The life cycle—birth-life-death-rebirth—reminds you that a power greater than yourself is in charge.
Allow music, art and the written word to uplift you: Celebrate those moments when you are in the presence of genius: listening to a symphony, admiring a painting or sculpture, or reading a book. The sacred expresses itself in so many creative ways.
Contemplate inner stillness: Take the time to be still and feel how special life is. Feel gratitude for all that you are and all that you have. Allow your mind and heart to acknowledge and accept the peace, love and harmony within a moment in time.
The sacred is found at the core of your being. It springs forth whenever you enter the present moment with objective awareness of yourself and your surroundings. In that moment, you make sacred that which you see because you have touched your own divinity. This allows you to see beyond time and space; right and wrong. You have put aside the rational mind of thinking, analyzing and judging in order to connect with a Higher Order.
When you see yourself and life through the eyes of unconditional acceptance, you experience the sacredness in yourself and life. As a result, the sacred bends to you and follows you through your life. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord.” – Twenty-third Psalm from The Bible