How being in paradise made me reaffirm my gratitude for everyday living.
Click clack, click clack. It was the beautiful silence of nature and then we’d hear the soft clacking of endless bamboo trees. Recently, my wife and I traveled to Maui for a vacation. One day we drove along the Hana Highway and hiked the Pipiwai trail which leads through the magical bamboo forest to the 400 foot Waimoku Falls of Haleakala National Park. The tall bamboo trees clacking in the wind is reminiscent of a children’s fairy tale. There is a purity and a beauty in this magical place that had me reflecting about my own life, my own home, and of course, my own mind. It’s a great opportunity to be in such a special place, but what about my own special place? What about my own home?
It’s pretty fairytale-esque as well. My wife and I live in Malibu, California. Malibu is 27 miles of exquisite coastline. It has amazing beaches cushioned by incredible hikes in the Santa Monica Mountain Range. 570 miles of trails to be exact. We drive a lot because our town is long and thin. So, we can get frustrated about the fact that we have to drive, or… We can be grateful about the fact that we get to drive along one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the world! Really, the choice is ours. Our perception of reality is completely up to us. That is just as true in Malibu and Maui as it is in my mind, your mind and our collective conscience.
Walking along the beautiful black sand beaches in Maui, hiking the bamboo forest, and taking in Mother Nature’s incredible beauty got me thinking. All we need to do is be present for a moment. Be present, take a breath and feel the awesomeness of life. Feel the fact that we’re alive. We don’t have to trudge through life, we can skip, sail, and enjoy this amazing opportunity called living. The choice is ours.
We all have hard times, people get sick, people leave us and every so often, they even die. It’s sad, heartbreaking at times, but there is so much good and so much to take in it’s really amazing. It is the the time of year for gratitude and that’s where it all starts. Look around you. Or better yet, look inside. You don’t need Malibu and you sure don’t need Maui. Simply feel for a moment. Feel the breath, feel your body, stretch your fingers and toes. YOU’RE ALIVE!
Why we continually focus of what we don’t have, or problems that may or may not happen, or the other guy, baffles me! Forget it. Stand up, take a deep breath and scream!!! Because before you know it, you won’t be able to. If, at the end, you are able to look back on your life, will you be happy? Will you be grateful to have lived or will you regret that you didn’t? The choice is yours!
It’s easy to forget about how lucky we are. It’s easy to forget that by being alive we already beat the odds. It’s easy to slip into our own routine and forget that our destiny is not to be a tree or a dumpster for that matter, but it’s to be a human being. My challenge to you is to evolve from a human being to a human living, a human thriving and a human giving in an amazing world. See you on the path! @teddymcdonald
