When we wake up in the morning, there are 24
brandnew hours before us. Each of these hours is like a blank piece of paper.
We have the right to write on it all the things that can make us happy. But
most of the time in our daily life, we are not aware that we have this right.
We wake up, and all the suffering of the past is coming up in us.
We are not
aware that there is a new day before us. For me, there is a new life beginning
every morning when I wake up. When I wake up from sleeping, there is really
beginning a new life for me. Most of us write on their paper again and again the
things that make them suffer. We repeat the same suffering again and again, and
there is not even a little blank space left on our paper. Sometimes our
suffering is so big that we cannot accept it. But as a meditation practitioner
we have to see the following point clearly: Every morning when we wake up, our
new life is beginning. We can write on our paper all the things that make us
suffer. But we can also choose to write the things that make us happy. The
first line that we are writing on our paper is the smiling in our face. We
always have to remind ourselves that we have the right to choose what we wish
for our life. If we can do that, we will become a happier person.
Smile!
When we look at the trees during springtime,
we can see that they are offering us all their blossoms. When a baby is born,
it looks like a blossom that is slowly opening. Our smile is a kind of flower.
In order to cultivate our love, we can practice smiling every morning when we
wake up. There is a short verse, a Gatha that can accompany this practice:
Waking up at the morning, I smile.
24 brandnew hours are before me.
I vow to live deeply in each moment,
and to look at all beings with the eyes of
love.
Why do we smile? Because we are aware that we
have 24 brandnew hours before us. If we are able to smile peacefully, we can
already make the people around us happy. We just have to smile. But it is not
always easy for us to put this into practice. We can place a beautiful twig or
a flower close to our bed, so it can remind us to smile every morning when we
wake up. The flower can help us in our practice. When see the flower in the
morning, we will remember to smile.
When we smile, there are hundreds of muscles
relaxing in our face. We become happier and we can actually enjoy life. When we
smile, we will see that our world is changing. In the meditation center where I
live, the brothers and sisters smile many times during the day. That's why our
guests feel very welcome, and they enjoy the warm, joyful atmospere. When we
smile, we will look younger, and we feel fresher and happier. I always advise
the people to smile whenever they remember to do so.
When we come back home after a long day of
work, we often feel exhausted. If our partner is welcoming us without a smile
on his or her face, we will probably get even more tired. If instead there is a
beautiful flower waiting for us, radiating a fresh energy, then we will quickly
restore our own energy. The other person is like a mirror. When we look into a
mirror and we are smiling, the person in the mirror will smile as well. When we
look angry, the person in the mirror will also look angry. The same mechanism
is working with our partner. We are like a mirror for her or for him. He or she
is coming back home from work, and we are smiling at him or her like a
beautiful flower. When our partner is looking at us, he or she will smile back
to us.
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