Season of Creation Daily Day 31: First glimpse of a butterfly

Take a moment to ponder the photograph.

Be amazed

Stay open to a sense of freshness, wonder, gratitude, and awe, instead of taking things for granted or getting numb from the pressure of work and life. While recently stressing about some undone tasks, I glanced in a mirror and saw my T-shirt, with a picture of a galaxy and a little sign in its outer swirls saying "you are here." I've worn this shirt many times — yet for once it stopped me in my tracks.

It really hit me: yes we are actually here, off to the edge of a vast floating whirlpool of stars, alive and conscious, walking and talking on a big rock circling a bigger burning ball of gas. Here, now, nearly fourteen billion years after the cosmos bubbled into being.

I felt the delight and awe of a little kid who for the first time sees a butterfly, or tastes ice cream, or realizes that the stars above are really far away. Gratitude and wow and something feeling sacred washed through me.

I was amazed.                          

— Rick Hanson, psychologist and author (The Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and other books)

Special thanks for gratitude

Season of Creation Daily
pause | reflect | act

Editor's note: Season of Creation Daily is inspired by the Care for Our Common Home Ministry, Paulist Center Boston. To receive daily reflections by email, sign up here.