Taking in the view.. what I see from the mountaintop..

I'm walking along the path of life.. my habit is to look at the ground as if I need to see and anticipate all that arises. As i stare at the ground, I begin describing all that I see. Again this is a habit, it's rough, it's smooth, on and on it goes. The terrain varies, there are rocks, hills, it weaves back and forth, up and down.. I look at the ground and I describe it, it's rocky today, slippery, scary.. Today its all uphill, it's hard work, I really have to push myself to keep going. Other days it feels easy, I am energized, the path is smooth, I skip along, smiling and singing a song.

Occasionally for some reason I glance up.. ahhh the "view", such expanse, such awe for the vastness of the sky, the landscape, the clouds and it seems to go on and on.. of course I keep walking along just fine without looking at the ground. But then out of habit I look down and "the view" seems to go away, replaced with a much smaller scope of vision.

This is how it is when I "seem" to forget the vastness of what I AM, when i get locked into looking and describing the circumstances, how I feel, or what I think, describing it as good or bad, there seems to be a contraction, a shrinking, limitation.

The practice that I've been committed to is to just relax and look up, take in the view, the vast expanse, infinite possibilities and expressions. To focus less on describing what I see and think and feel and to focus more on the wide open space, the vast intelligence, this is what I recognize as clarity or presence or simply awareness.

A 15 yr practice of inquiry comes back to me.. what is this awareness? what's looking? as opposed to what is seen with it's endless set of descriptions..

It's easy to get away from myself, or so it seems.. but again the commitment to stay here, in conscious awareness of what is looking, to maintain the view, to look up, to relax the habit to describe and categorize and rather to see what is at the basis of all that arises or appears, what is the one source of everything, to feel into this..

Gratitude seems to be an amazing part of this, to share appreciation for all that is.. yes even the stuff I'm not so excited about.. this too!

This commitment to the view, to gratitude and appreciation, to relaxing and letting everything be as it is, to seeing what is aware of all of this, maintaining the view of what's looking..

well.. this is what seems to really allow me access to my true capacity to be of benefit and to serve at the highest level..

love to hear your direct experience with the view...

much love

joanne