Appreciate Everything

A set of intention cards sits next to my computer, spread out in a pewter dish encircled in carved rabbits, given to me by one of the many incredible women with which I find myself surrounded. I've begun a habit of pulling a card each day, sometimes multiple cards, sometimes multiple times a day, to help me in my practice of appreciating this life and being receptive to the amazing experiences that it has to offer. Interestingly, although there are about a hundred cards in the pile, and regardless of how much I shuffle them, I tend to regularly draw the same handful of messages. My favorite, and often the most difficult to actually practice, says "Appreciate Everything and Everyone.'' Hmmm. Everything? On the reverse side, the card encourages me to appreciate every experience and everyone that has played a role in my life, as having been sent to me for my benefit. Hmmm. Again, everything?

I think about a recent experience. I think about the large metal object that flew into the windshield on the last day of this past year, slamming into me like a freight train dead center in the chest, bouncing onto the floorboard, and leaving behind a fractured sternum and two broken ribs. I think about the inexplainable desire to fidget with my camera that motivated me to look down right before the event occurred, causing the glass to spill in my hair and not my eyes. I think about the chill that went through me only a few minutes prior, that caused me to wrap the scarf around my neck and zip up my fleece jacket, both providing protective cushion for my sensitive skin. And, most strangely, I think about the past year and my prayers for help in 'opening my heart center' and for 'permission to rest,' and how the universe, in one very deliberate and dramatic moment, provided both.

And, as I learn to appreciate everything about this experience, and, set my intentions to be receptive to more subtle and gentle forms of communication in the future, I think about that intention card that concludes with - "In this universe, which was created by a divine, organizing intelligence, there are simply no accidents."