Each Breath a New Breath

[cedar_grove]

Into her secret chamber the goddess Hera went
to dress her sacred beauty. To her hand only
opened the golden lock her son had made,
the doors unfolding like a flower at her touch.
She bathed herself in luxury and fragrant oil,
and the scent of her perfume filled the air
of heaven so that gods swooned in delight
just from the fragrance of her bath.
Then Hera dressed her hair, some high
atop her head, some flowing golden down
her milky shoulders. And now a robe:
she selects on that Athena made,
woven with great skill and artistry.
And now some jewels: tiny triple stars
in each her ears, and a golden breastplate
that reveals her rich endowments.
But it is not her jewels and clothing
that make this goddess lovely.
Plain sandals, on her feet, are beautiful,
a plain white veil, upon her head, is beautiful.

--Greek poet Home, The Iliad

Each spring the earth is like a new place.

Is this not true of each new day?

The truth of the matter is that I think half of the time we walk around with our eyes closed - figuratively speaking - and do not see what is there before us. Nothing really brought that home to me like the other day, when Mir and I were finding things to photograph - new angles, new perspectives, but also I saw things (probably because I was looking for them) that I would not have seen before. It has been quite the revalation - and a pleasant one. So yes... while the advent of new life, newly grown flowers, green leaves budding on the trees amid the spring blossoms, baby birds in their nests and other young animals (if we are lucky enough to see them, hidden away as their parents keep them), all serve to being us beauty and renewal, with just a shift in our thinking, and in our perception, we can enjoy the same kind of rebirth of energy with each and every living day.

We could take it even a step further, and say with each new experience we are renewed, and indeed we are, but for an average day, and an ordinary person, perhaps that is a little close to living an enlightened path - even though that is what we are meant to strive for after all - which can perhaps seem a little much. Good to make the assay though. Always good to try and perhaps a way to counter the feeling that everything is always the same, if the routine of daily living, or what happens when you are in a specific place seems to become always the march of the same steps. Remember, each experience, each moment in a lifetime is unique, and cannot be repeated. We cannot live backwards. Only forwards.