Greetings, dear, Sunny Buddies,
I hope the sun is shining where you are, and your optimism is nurtured by the gifts of the natural world around you. June is such a lovely time of year. I have a wonderful sense of anticipation as we head for the Summer Solstice next week. I will send you a Summer Solstice meditation next Tuesday to celebrate this.
As I begin writing each Friday, I always take time to imagine where you are and what your life is like. This week I had several new sign-ups for The Sunny Optimist. In a world clambering for our attention, it touches me deeply when I receive a notification of a new subscriber in my mailbox. Thank you for being here; I appreciate it. If you ever feel like telling me who you are and where you are, I would love to hear from you.
To send me a personal message, please reply to this email.
Happiness in a Day
Last week I wrote about The Happiness Meditation offered in the lovely little book Wokini by Billy Mills. It was nice to touch into his wonderfully simple guidance on how to be happy. Somehow it felt right to stay with the book this week. So, I decided today to share with you one of my favourite quotes from Billie’s writing.
Every morning you are handed twenty-four golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn’t buy an extra hour. What will you do with your priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted, you cannot get it back.
I love the reminder of how precious time actually is and that we should spend it wisely. This quote could, at one level, just be about how we will occupy our day. However, the image below gives us a deeper appreciation of the hours in a day. It reminds us of how the 24-hour cycle is derived from the celestial dance of the Sun and the Earth. We are part of an evolutionary journey that has been unfolding for 13.8 billion years.
We are part of cosmic creation, moment by moment by moment!
That kind of focuses the mind, does it not?
Big Smile!
I began to think about the symbolism of each 24 hours. It is believed that the number 24 symbolises the double harmony of the sky and the earth. According to the French numerologist Rene Allendy, the number 24 weaves the 'cyclic mechanism of nature' (number 4) with what he calls 'the cosmic differentiation' of the 20. Not quite sure what to make of this. If you can add more here to my understanding, I would love to know more about this.
Questions for this Week
One of the book's key messages is that happiness does not come from the outside of us. More that it comes from weaving inner relaxation, imagery and intention. So my invitation today is to take some time out in nature in quiet contemplation of the 'priceless treasure of 24 hours' that is your celestial birthright.
Here are my questions for this week to support your exploration. Enjoy!
Who would you like to spend your time with?
Where would you like to spend it?
How will you honour the gift of this day?
Sending you my appreciation for being here with me. And as always, I would love to hear from you.
Ann
Thankyou Ann. The most brightening and inspiring message. I think to see the sun of light brighter even than the disc in the sky. It’s a theme often reflected on. Moments of time and I realise for all my dilemmas that I can always stop and be grateful for the now. I’m on a train with a food trolley passing by. But even in a mildly hectic moment I can see so many reasons why stopping time almost like stopping a clock is always a helpful thing to do. When all else fails. When one can’t do anything else about a situation it’s possible at least to be very very very glad for the intense moment I can say I’m alive now. Wherever I may be. Whoever I may be I still have fingers to type and I hope you won’t mind me communicating a short poem on the moment as I was almost singing it in raptures thirty years ago. ( moments are always lovely though they can be far apart )
Think of the moment,
the special moment,
the moment we call now.
For the moment we look,
the moment we listen,
the moment we know somehow,
is a moment of truth,
a moment that’s special,
a moment to hold on to.
For in this moment,
as in every moment,
do everything you can somehow
and cherish this moment
and value the moment,
the wonderful time called “ Now”
By Richard on Dec 20. 1991
With lovely best wishes to all. In the slightly longer than a moment it’s taken me to put this here can I share my vast enthusiasm for the infinity of everything
Cheers R 🎶🎵⭐️🔆🎶Thankyou Ann x
Glad I took the time to read this! Perfect contemplation, especially how crazy things are now.