Charles “Tom” Brown spent many years in prison. During his incarceration, he experienced a profound spiritual awakening, and he wrote eloquently about his realizations. I thought I’d share a few of his lines:
We get bored with being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. We often lose our health to make money and then lose our money to restore our health. We think so anxiously about the future we forget the present, such that we live neither for the present nor the future.
It occurs to me that the spiritual practice of gratitude is the perfect antidote to the frantic searching and inward hollowness Brown points out in that passage. Filling our hearts with gratitude centers us in the moment and brings us present to the perfection of our current phase of life, as well as to the beauty and uniqueness of those who walk the path with us. As we endeavor to appreciate “what is,” unrealized possibilities, insights and experiences blossom profusely.
May your precious life embrace abundant wonders and new glories.