live your masterpiece

Nothing is guaranteed to us. We don’t know the future. The past 12 months have reminded me of these truths.

One of my favorite anecdotes is that of Ajahn Chah and the broken teacup.

"Before saying a word, he [Ajahn Chah] motioned to a glass at his side. “Do you see this glass?” he asked us. “I love this glass. It holds the water admirably. When the sun shines on it, it reflects the light beautifully. When I tap it, it has a lovely ring. Yet for me, this glass is already broken. When the wind knocks it over or my elbow knocks it off the shelf and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ But when I understand that this glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.”"

Presence allows us to be with what is. In those moments we’re filled with deep gratitude and appreciation for everything around us. We experience richness, fullness, and vibrancy in our lives with little effort or seeking.

Everything is here. It’s all around you. Can you see it?

Sometimes we get so busy, and so focused on the seeking we miss what is.

Presence allows us to fully experience more moments in our lives. Moments provide us with meaning, gratitude, purpose, and connection.

Can we cultivate a way of being to experience more powerful moments? Is there a way to encourage their arising? Aren’t they spontaneous and outside of our control?

Let me ask, do you think it’s possible to cultivate a way of being to experience less? Can we engage in actions and behaviors that reduce moments of presence and connection?

What does this have to do with living your masterpiece?

Often we might imagine a future state or condition that we desire to attain. We tell ourselves when this happens, then I’ll be (happy, successful, worthy, secure, enough). The challenge is that our attitude doesn’t need to be dependent on external conditions in order to be present and grateful.

There’s nothing wrong with having clarity, setting goals, creating a plan. I find those things highly valuable and enjoyable.

But be careful they don’t create an imbalance of recognition, gratitude, and appreciation for all that is in this moment. Now. Today.

Cultivating a relationship with gratitude today, not only helps to ensure you’ll have a relationship with gratitude tomorrow but also supports you to clearly see the abundance of resources surrounding your continued existence at this moment.

Everything around you is supporting your existence. Think of one blueberry that you might eat. Consider how it found its way to your mouth. Maybe with your fingers, your hand, your arm. Think of how you might be able to see it, feel it, smell it, taste it.

If you bought it in a store, who unloaded it from a truck, who put it on a shelf, who rang it up for you. Think of where that blueberry may have come from and how did it travel to you. How was it packaged, how was it shipped? Where was it grown, how was it harvested, who planted it?

Think of the water, sunlight, and nutrients needed to create that little bundle of pleasure and nourishment.

All of that has happened, so you can enjoy one blueberry.

When you take a few moments in presence and connect with gratitude to what’s around you, you’ll notice that you’re experience is filled with richness and detail.

Our minds are excellent at envisioning alternative future realities. This is clearly a helpful function. However, we should use this as a tool and not a default mode.

Your masterpiece is here, now. This is it. Drop in. Begin to live in your masterpiece, from your masterpiece, as your masterpiece.

The more that you cultivate presence and gratitude for all that’s in your life, the more that you’ll be able to recognize the beauty of the masterpiece you’re living. 

Like the blueberry and the teacup, you’re surrounded by beautiful gifts. Impermanent beautiful gifts. Nothing is guaranteed to us. We don’t know the future. Everything changes. Everything comes to an end. Everything is lost.

As you see this and recognize it, in the moment, every day becomes precious.

I became intimately aware of this when I almost lost my life in Baku 14 years ago. And even though I didn’t end up losing my life, everything I thought that I possessed of a life was lost.

In practice, you can make a list of 10 things you currently have in your life. Instead of working to cultivate a sense of gratitude for these things, imagine they’ve been lost. Feel that. Be with it for a few moments. Understand that from a place of knowing.

Here's some things on my list for today: holding my mom's hand, sharing a hug with my dad, the smell of my wife's hair, waking up in a warm, dry, safe, and comfortable bed, the sound of our dog Django's heart beating, the soft cushiony weight of our dog Bowie in my arms, hot water on demand, being surrounded by beautiful plants, a warm cup of mint tea, the smell of incense gifted by a relative & dear friend in India.

Then allow yourself to return, recognizing that those 10 things are with you now, today. Go forward from this place with a deeper sense of appreciation and gratitude. See these things with new eyes.

They are with you. They are precious.

Your masterpiece is now. It is rich, it is abundant, it is full and it is alive.

Don’t miss it.