Time is about priorities.

Work, errands, family, food, joys, a plunk in a lake, responsibilities, sharing, laundry, taking the dog out, bringing the laundry in. Even, sometimes, folding it and putting it away.

Meditation can help widen the gaps in our “busyness” to help us remember to prioritize all that is important before that busyness takes us all the way to The End.

Today I sat at the venerable Shambhala Center and practiced noticing my thoughts…then gently, again and again, returning to my breath, and this moment.

And my mind opened and cleared and relaxed and insights arose where busyness had hummed.

We do this not merely for ourselves but for all. This earth, our friendships, those animal friends we may view callously, that old tree, our mother. And as we practice opening…

…our relationship to all others—even ourselves—begins to soften and warm.

And we find that life is delightful, again, like the first fresh taste of ice cream, rain on a petal, a kiss on a lover’s neck, the groan of the pier against the cool gray waves, the cry of the seagull resting on the wind.