Precious Gift

Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four
brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have
the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours
will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others.
Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in
everything we do and see. The question is whether or not
we are in touch with it. We don't have to travel far away
to enjoy the blue sky. We don't have to leave our city or
even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child.
Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy.

We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that
allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that
is available. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very
good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma,
and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house,
and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive
in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace,
joy, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh