In the midst of the world's chaos and our collective interior tumult, "good morning", a customary pleasantry, remains in wide release along my daily walks in the rising sun. Especially in these past several months, as I both receive and return the greeting, it triggers for me an internal inquiry... Is it so? If not, don't I have some say to, at the very least, make it so?

"Wherever your mind finds satisfaction...
there is your meditation."


On the days when I am able to get fully present with the concept of "good morning", I make my way to my camera. These courtships, without fail, upgrade the tenor of not only my mornings, but often my afternoons and evenings as well. Among the dividends they pay me personally are breathing lessons. "Wherever your mind finds satisfaction... there is your meditation," writes Lorin Roche on page 260 of his wonderful collection, The Radiance Sutras. His observation removes the formula factor, allowing the practice of meditation to become more free range. Meditation can be a swift elevation to everyone's hours, and its construct looks different for each of us. Getting creative for some moments is the shape it takes for me. 

The other teaching I find this "good morning" embodiment imparts is the essential reminder of how much I still do not know. “The best thing for being sad… is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails," wrote the author T.H. White. Out communing with the natural world is where I take my teachings. "Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.” Wonder + Breathing = A little CHEER.


To the countless sidewalk strangers whose paths I cross on my morning walks, I say "thank you" for helping to make "good morning" my mantra during these times especially. It cues me to go out and find my smile... and recall that plenty, is enough.