I originally wrote this piece for a different blog during my first year studying abroad in Kyoto in 2011-12.
I am grateful. I am grateful for this spring in Japan. I am grateful for the people in my life. I feel alive.
“Unless you die, noone can take your breath away. Be grateful for your breath. The breath of life.” The words of my yoga teacher still resound throughout my heart. There are moments when I hunger for life, when I try to suck in as much air, as much experience, as much of this world as I can. When I feel my lungs inflate and my breast is about to burst. And then with all my force I exhale, spit out uncomfortable feelings, let go of negative thoughts, give my breath to the world – until my stomach sucks in fresh air again, fresh energy, the energy of life, energy that will open up my breast, my heart, my mind. “Become one with the world around you”: I recall the words of a meditation guidance tape a friend gave me. I exhale and my boundaries blur.
The first spring day in Japan. The first spring sun rising in the morning, warming my bare arms. The revitalizing air of spring when you feel that something new and exciting is beginning. I breathe in. What will you change in my heart, air of spring? What will you bring? I cycle along the Kamo River, passing joggers, passing dogs, passing birds, passing flowers, passing trees. I pass cherry trees, the cherry blossoms above me forming a firmament, a roof under which I recline. While I rest, the faces of the people in my life pass by. Friends in Japan, in England, in Germany, and elsewhere. There is much in my life that I can be grateful for. Much that I have received and receive from you everyday anew.
I am grateful for moments when I am grateful, when I can just rest and be content. But I am also grateful for moments when I sense that my life is much more than I realize, when I sense that within what seems to be limited there are no limitations but endless possibilities, not in a far-away world, but here in my everyday reality. I only need to breathe in and let it happen.