Spider webs

I had a wonderful time yesterday hiking with my friend Dana and her 2-year-old son Dustin.  It was a very foggy morning, and the mountain was shrouded in mist. 

We usually hike this mountain every Saturday, and have been for years.  So naturally, there is very little that surprises us.  However, yesterday we noticed that there were spider webs everywhere!  We could see them clearly for the first time, since they now had dew on them that made them visible.  There were spider webs at every turn, and in every shrub! 

This is a photo we took on the hike

All three of us were fascinated at these webs which we had never noticed before.  We had the greatest time pointing them out, stopping to gaze at their intricate shapes, and really appreciating them.

It made me think about awareness.  Those spider webs have always been there.  We pass by them all the time, week in and week out, but we never notice them.  When suddenly they were illuminated by the water clinging to them, they were so very captivating.  I sometimes feel this way about awareness.  When practicing with awareness and letting go, I'll have moments of clarity upon seeing something ordinary like a car's bumper, or a pen, or the blade of a fan.  And suddenly I'm hanging out in the present moment. 

Whenever it occurs to me, I turn to this simple practice that Lama Jigme suggested:

In Breath: Noticing!
Out breath: Letting Go

May you see spider webs at every turn.  Om mani padme hum