Morning

3rd Story in The A New Day Stories Collection

When the alarm clock goes off at five o’clock in the morning when every brain cell and muscle in your body is sleeping soundly, you have to remember why you have to get up at this perilously early hour.

Lee and I were visiting Torres del Paine in the Patagonia region of Chile when the sound of the alarm came announcing it was time to return to consciousness.  I slowly remembered then that our goal for the day was photographing sunrise on these mountains.  A few minutes later I was splashing water on my face, trying to clear the clouds from my eyes and the fog from my brain.  A quiver of excitement ran through me.  Photographing these mountains had been a bucket list item for some time now.  We pulled on layer after layer of clothing and joined our group for an early morning breakfast.  The pace began to quicken as we finished the last nosh and headed for the bus.

I had lapsed back into semi-consciousness when the bus lurched to a stop and we began our trek out to where we would be photographing.  The only light came from the red lights on our headbands.  We scrambled along a rough trail and up over hillocks to get to the viewing area.  I set up my tripod on the place where my feet found sturdy ground and began preparing my equipment for the first view of the new day.  The mountains and the lake between the mountain and our viewpoint were still dark, barely   visible in the pre-dawn twilight.  I was trying to figure out my camera settings as the horizon began to lighten.  Shivering in the frigid late autumn air, I was positive I had picked a good spot until the light brightened enough for me to see some things about my foreground that frustrated me.

I tried fixing the problem by adjusting my camera – no good.  Next I tried raising the tripod – still no good.  The light was growing bright, and the photos were not coming out to my satisfaction.  What I needed was a change of perspective.  I stood back and observed the scene more carefully.  Some steps up the hill provided a better vantage point.  Now the photography began to flow.  I changed some settings, found the beauty.  Frustration gave way to shivers of excited joy.  This new day was looking up now.

I found what I was looking for in the early morning light.  Finding what you are looking for is a process.  Have you ever wondered why something is off to a rough start?  Ever wondered if you were going to accomplish what you set out to do?  I’ve often felt that way.  Ever thought you were doing something right only to find out you were doing it exactly wrong?  Well, it happens to most of us.  So let us begin again and find out why that happens.

“Living in the sight of a mountain changed my perspective.”

When I was a teenager, I had a very long walk home from the school bus each day.  There was a mountain across the valley I cherished deeply.  Living in the sight of a mountain changed my perspective.  The walk home was not an interminable affair.  It was a chance to glimpse, to contemplate, to enjoy what I cherished deeply.  When I started for home, my back was to the mountain.  But as the road turned a corner after a steeper stretch, the view of the mountain opened up before me.  Wow!  The road turned again.  I could not see the mountain – and the road grew steeper.  It angled back again – and there was the mountain I cherished.  The road turned again.  The mountain disappeared from sight.  There was a particularly rough patch, steeper, longer, but shaded from the afternoon sun.  A little reprieve in the heat.  All at once, the shrubbery and trees gave way to the heart-stirring sight of a mountain that I cherished most deeply.  

With every shift of perspective, we have the opportunity to attune ourselves to what we most deeply cherish.  We attune to the love that stirs us.  We attune to the soul’s purpose in our endeavor.  When we return from the weeds into which we have stumbled, we find our way back to the source of our inspiration.  And so we begin again.  It’s a new day.  What obscured our vision no longer has power over us.  We go through this process over and over again until we are profoundly satisfied, peacefully, joyfully.  Shifting perspectives changes our vantage point, but it also changes our attunement to the soul’s purpose.

Where are you feeling most stuck in the weeds in your life? 

Is there something you could do that might shift your perspective? 
Do you remember why you began this endeavor? 
What might your soul cherish most deeply.