Drifting into another dimension..........

I don't know about you but when I watch a vivid sunset unfolding before me I find myself drifting into another dimension....take last night for instance, sitting at the waters edge sipping a red wine, nibbling on some cheese and crackers, watching the water splashing about the smooth rocks lining the shore as two lone surfers paddled about waiting in anticipation of catching a wave...one moment the sun seemed to have little colour, just a normal summers day coming to a close and then all of a sudden it took on this illuminescent glow...as yellow as a buttercup and as that tired old sun slid slowly down towards the horizon the glow intensified spilling it's shimmering glow out across the water in an almost blinding display of light and beauty.

I became aware of the smile on my face and instinctively realised that I also felt that smile all the way through me into the centre of my being....I was like a small child, full of excitment and bubbling over with glee....to anyone watching they'd surely think I had never seen the sun set before in my life.


Somehow everything else failed to exist in that moment... it was just me and that sunset, that display of vivid light mesmerised me,  drawing me in deeper as the scenes in this majestic movie played out before me.

It was yellow, then orange and then it was golden and the contrasting dark clouds in the background painted the most amazing vista,  shaping the pyramid of the solitary mountain silhouetted in the distance.

A small flock of birds moved gracefully and silently across the landscape,  at once I was remembering those plaster birds that took pride of place on the wall when I was a child. Their wings outstretched on their journey to who knows where, just like this real life picture I was watching unfold before me.

What is it about the natural beauty of our environment that has the ability to soothe the most busy mind, release the tightest muscular knots and bring such peace a joy to a troubled heart with such minimal effort required...just the simple choice of  sitting still long enough to be witness to such an extraordinary event....these opportunities are all around us and yet in our busy and frenetic lives we so often don't take the time to 'smell the roses'.

Happiness and beauty can be found all around us if we make one conscious decision every day to open our eyes and truly 'see'. It's the small pleasures in life that can bring the most joy....seizing the moment in one thing and the challenge to retain it is something else entirely!