This has started out, and largely continued to be, a pretty crappy day. But, I just got this in my news feed and it helps abate the feeling. I wanted to share it in hopes that it helps someone else.

“You lethargic, waiting upon me,
waiting for the fire and I
attendant upon you, shaken by your beauty

Shaken by your beauty
Shaken.”

~William Carlos Williams

This morning I awoke, meditated in the quiet dark empty room, and then went to make my coffee.

The world outside is wet, and the raindrops patter upon the leaves of the lemon tree, with its bursts of bright yellow.

My kids and Eva asleep, at peace.

And as I drink my coffee I think of you, dear reader.

And I am struck by the beauty of this world, and the fragile human lives struggling to make their way within it.

And shaken.

The pain and stress and anger and sadness and loneliness and frustration and fear and cravings and irritations that we will experience today … they are made up. We can let them go as easily as they arise. They are unnecessary, if we realize that we’ve created them for no good reason.

Instead, see the beauty in every moment. In every person’s so human actions. In our own frailties and failures.

This world is a morning poem, and we have but to see it to be shaken by its beauty, over and over.

(Post written by Leo Babauta at ZenHabits)