It's all in my focus

Yesterday afternoon, after several gloomy days without sunshine, the sun broke through. What a treat.

As I saw the sunshine stream through my windows, I noticed places on the windowpane where my attempts at cleaning were imperfect—smears here and there. And I noticed dust on my furniture that hadn't been noticeable when the sun wasn't shining.

Instead of dropping everything to re-do the windows and dust my furniture, I decided to simply enjoy the lovely sunshine streaming into my rooms. I continued what I was doing, stopping every now and then to look up and simply soak in the beauty of sunshine.

In the past I would have been more inclined to focus on what I hadn't done well and I would have missed the beauty. I think this is one of the bonuses of growing older—letting go of some things that seemed so important to me years ago and focusing on the beauty that's right there in from of me. Now I can be more present in the moment.

I can't do anything about all I've missed through the years by focusing so tightly on what I needed to get done. But I can surely begin to focus my awareness now on what's right here right now—the beauty right in front of me.