A Moment of Gratitude-- The Golden Light of Evening

Gratitude. Thankfulness.

Even though we tend to look around us and often complain about how "screwed up" various aspects of the world may be, we really have a lot of beautiful and good things. 

A few minutes ago, I was standing out on our back deck-- which faces the sea and mountains-- and I just paused to take in the marvel of the "soft" golden sunlight of late evening.

The last 30 minutes before sunset is a "magic hour" for me, in many ways. The light shines in at a very low angle and illuminates the leaves of our trees; every vein in every leaf becomes visible.

For several minutes I stood there and pondered the incredible "engineering" of nature. 

During those moments, I am able to completely forget about the day and its contents... stressful, or otherwise... and simply enjoy the beauty of the moment. 

In forgetting, I also find myself becoming more present in the immediate moment. I start hearing the birds, singing their final songs of the day. In an otherwise clear sky, a couple of very tiny clouds formed... changed shape, evaporated, re-formed in a strange dance of high altitude water vapor.

Our rowanberry tree is the last thing in the garden to catch the final rays of sun. Below, I notice a wild bunny hopping across the lawn. Alas, it makes it into the thicket before I can get a sharp focus on it. In some cosmic way, "just seeing it" is enough.

Near my vantage point, I notice a hole in one of the Big Leaf Maple leaves... and I find myself wondering what bug had a feast there. A butterfly? A beetle? Who knows... did it get enough to eat to go form a chrysalis and now awaits emergence in a new form?

These amazing sights and events take place around us all the time, every day... but most of the time we tend to take them for granted and just pass by.

Sure, maybe we briefly pause and think "pretty sunset" for a couple of seconds, before resuming whatever was preoccupying us. Life, so often, keeps us too busy to notice the natural world around us.

I find myself taking a moment to be grateful to my late father who was one of my influencers who taught me to really look at my surroundings. It has stood me in good stead, especially as a nature photographer.

In recent years, I have made it more of an actual practice to just stop and fully appreciate these moments, as they arise. I make the conscious decision that I am not "too busy" to take a few moments to relax and just look.

And so I stop and enjoy that golden light of evening and truly see it... with both the wonder of someone seeing it for the first time, as well as the intensity one might feel if it were my last time to ever see such a thing.

Meanwhile, across the bay, the Olympic Mountains slowly turn that purple-blue color we only see in the evening. There's still some snow up there, above 5500 feet; the last few patches will have melted by late July, except a few spots where the sun doesn't touch.

It stays daylight quite late now; less than a month till Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. Meanwhile, the sun sinks below the horizon and bathes everything in layers of gold. In the distance a fogbank is forming, and will probably roll in by morning... in the further distance, I can just about make out the faint outline of the coastal mountains of Vancouver Island.

How about YOU? Do you pause to take in moments of quiet and gratitude in "simple" things? Are you on observer of nature around us? Do you let your mind go quiet? Leave a comment-- share your own experience!

(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise stated. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)