“…Put on the mind of morning
Feel the rush of light spread slowly inside
The color and stillness of a found world.”
John O’Donohue
At this moment, I’m staying in a beautiful condo in Palm Springs, giving my body a break from the damp cold Pacific Northwest. Upon waking every morning, there is a button I press to make the blinds go up. Depending on what time I wake up, it can still be dark outside.
But I am not fearful I will find darkness when I open the blinds. Because I know. I know it’s just before the dawn and the light will soon come.
Perhaps I can learn to put on the “mind of morning” through this. I can learn not to decide based on what I see, but what I know. Some days it’s a hard shift. There can be a low level anxiety based on simply seeing. Because often, things look dark.
But I can come to know that seeing darkness does not define the moments ahead. I can trust that deep inside there is a light that can slowly spread. That’s a hard ask at times. We can’t connect to what routinely happens over and over, day after day. The dark is not the final word.
I may not be able to do that every time. But maybe even just once, I can convert the container of dark thoughts into the mind of morning. I don’t know. Everything is easier when I think about it. Not so easy when it shows up.
But how easy it is to push the button and lift the blinds. Maybe I can bring this “mind of morning” with me into my day. How beautiful to let in whatever is out there. The prelude to morning or the bright light of dawn.
As I lift those blinds, the mind of morning eagerly awaits what’s out there. I guess what I let in each time is hope. A new dawn. A new day.
Wide Angle Lens 