Journey from a log of wood to a life of wood

Life is beautiful. Why do we say something is beautiful? What is that thing that is actually making something beautiful? It is the life/prana in something that makes it beautiful. For example: you look at a dead dog or a dried vegetable or a dried leaf you wouldn't say it is beautiful. If you find yourself saying it is beautiful then probably there is some prana/life-force left in it. Eg: Stone has 1 unit of life, so we say stone is beautiful too.

This is my journey from a log of wood to a life of wood. Back in 2017, a friend said let's walk through this street, it looks beautiful. I replied what's in this street! These are just trees and shrubs. All I can see are leaves and wood together forming trees. What is so beautiful about it? I have seen several such trees before. They are all the same. It's the same sky, same blades of grass, I have been seeing it since I was a child. Infact back in 2000's I have painted these blades of grass observing them for hours. To be frank, those days I would pull myself for a trek or any nature get-away just not to hurt my friends. I would say company is what matters. Any place works pub or a forest, it doesn't matter. It always puzzled me what would others see in that national park or forest! Those were the days when I was still exploring meditation. I would try one or two meditation here and there explore different practices but always ended up feeling something was missing. I wasn't sure what was I searching for. But I knew this wasn't working for me. Then in March 2018, I had my first taste of meditation which somehow answered several questions. But I couldn't stick with the practice, probably the impact wasn't enough for it become a regular practice. I was out of touch and again in this digital world I kept trying different meditations, attending talks, sessions and my path to exploration took me to different places.

Fast forward 2020 was a game changer. I did my first silence while actively volunteering for several activities and changes started happening. Changes were happening effortlessly. One day I looked over the Seattle waterfront and I realized oh this is not one bucket of water or 2 buckets of water or 100 buckets of water rather it is unimaginable quantity of water. What an aha moment that was! Note that this is the same waterfront where I was going for walk from last 2 years.

Another day while walking back home, I noticed a bird just fly with wings spread out. It didn't really flap wings. And that was an aha moment. Today I heard birds smaller than sparrows chirping nosily. Going closer I noticed all these birds are sitting on a single tree less than the height of house. There were at-least 50+ birds all chirping as if they were having a huge meeting. Suddenly a flock of birds would fly together and sit on another branch of same tree and keep chirping. Ironically I just stood there watching these birds for 15 minutes. 

Off-late I find myself exploring the trails in woods, breathing through the nature, feeling the serenity amongst the mountains and cliffs, hearing the water flow. Since 2017 to now in 2022, frankly even I am surprised with the change in me. There was no effort, it was definitely effortless and changes kept happening. I can feel the life within. Suddenly what I thought was a non-living thing became lively. I know this is living and that is dead. There is life-force energy within us that keep us alive and beautiful. I can feel my heart open up and feel the energy radiating outward. We just need to let the things happen through us and let the grace flow through us. Meditation does wonders!

Thank you divine for waking us up!

Life is beautiful!

The street I said no to in 2017 looked similar to this picture. I don't have the actual picture since I didn't care those days. But today if you ask for a walk in this street, it will be a yes at the skip of my heart beat.