Today is my Favourite Day

Of all the wonder-full quotes from A.A. Milne’s ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ books, this one is perhaps my favourite. Although I will admit that for most of my life I didn’t truly ‘get’ the wisdom that was being offered to us. It seemed silly, and yet wasn’t funny. It also seemed non-sensical. and I’ve always been in favour of making sense, so this little quote just didn’t do it for me. However, now it makes perfect sense and it makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it. What’s the difference? Well…

I suppose several things have changed but an important change happened when I awakened to the value of Appreciation. To really embrace Appreciation as a Way of Living takes some practice – if you aren’t used to it. For a couple of years, I made a point of writing down three things every single day that I appreciated ABOUT MYSELF. After that I was able to live Appreciation, for myself and others, without writing it down. It just became a way of life. 
 
Another significant change for me was when I connected to the Inner Stillness. It isn’t easy in this day and age of rush, rush, hurry, hurry, so much to do, so little time. But through the practise of Esoteric Yoga, I found that place within myself which is always, ALWAYS Still. Of course, I had to learn to quiet the monkey mind first. Initially, I found it impossible to make the mind blank or still, so instead I learned to give it the task of being in union with the body and - Voila, there it was, the Stillness that  resides within. In Esoteric Yoga, I found that aligning my mind to what my body was doing, was the key that unlocked the door to Stillness. Eventually, I learned how to take that Stillness with me, off the yoga mat and into the world.  
 
In this Way of Living, the madness of today’s world is going on all around you but you remain unruffled knowing that there is a larger Plan that is playing out and that we each have a responsibility to see that we are leaving an imprint of Love in all of our own interactions. 
 
Yes, the nightly news is more ghastly each time we turn on the radio or television, the corruption of the political system, the press, and the judicial system seems to worsen with each new day, illness and disease have escalated beyond anything we could have imagined just a few short years ago. But when you have found this place within, this place where you connect to your own divinity and you feel the Stillness, then you are like a fish swimming in the sea without getting wet. And every day becomes your favourite day. 
 
You don’t shut down and you don’t walk around in an armour of protection. You are open to what life is offering and observing all that is going on, in the world, near and far. You sleep well and get up the next morning and do it all again. 
 
It is nearly my Birth Day – again, already. But the last few years there is no need to celebrate that day above any other day, it’s just one more favourite day.
 
Recently some dear friends of mine decided to get married and had completed all the necessary paperwork but hadn’t set a definite date. They called a friend who is a marriage celebrant and asked when she could perform the ceremony, turned out it was the next day so they called a few friends and invited them for lunch and got married on the veranda in their back yard. It was a no fuss affair. For them, it was another favourite day.
 
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It’s still a work in progress for me, of course. And some days aren’t as easy as others but now, I understand what A.A. Milne was trying to impart to us – that Living with a capital L, is the answer to being here on earth. And once we embrace this, then Today becomes our Favourite Day.    
 
 
Further Reading: 
 
What’s the Difference Between Appreciation and Gratitude
 
Introducing Esoteric Yoga – The Yoga of Stillness

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