Noticing the freely given gifts

 

The art of slow living is noticing the gifts given freely to us everyday.

For Mother’s Day this year Kelly and Rolf have me a box of tulip bulbs, my favourite flowers. Kelly and I shared the experience of planting these bulbs in my front garden and getting our hands in the dirt as we planted and blessed the bulbs being lovingly placed in the earth.

Imagine my delight on the first day of spring last week when I noticed the first bulb had opened up to reveal its beauty.

I received many gifts in that moment:

– The sight of the beautiful flower
– The thought of Kelly and Rolf giving me a gift that would keep on giving pleasure
– The memory of Kelly and I planting those bulbs in the earth a few months earlier
– The pleasure of photographing it and sending it to them with my excitement, a moment shared gratitude in my heart as I relished the moment and let the smile on my face ripple into my cells to savour

 

 

 

So grateful was I to have been going slow enough to notice that first tulip and the associated feelings it evoked. It wasn’t the most perfect tulip but it evoked the most perfect feelings of love and gratitude.

Gratitude – one of the keys to slow living.