What the Morning Glory Teaches About Returning

🌿 The Quiet Teaching

Morning glories don’t negotiate with noon.

They open with the morning light

 and then—

 without drama,

 without apology—

 they fade.

This is the teaching I need right now:

Awareness is not something we achieve and hold.

 It is something we return to.

Again.

 And again.

The beauty is real because it is brief.

 The practice is real because we come back.

🌱 Opening Is Not Permanent

Each morning, the vine offers what it can.

A single bloom.

 Fully present.

 Facing the light.

By midday, it closes.

Not because it failed.

 Not because it wasn’t strong enough.

 But because this is the rhythm of living things.

Awareness moves the same way.

It opens.

 It fades.

 It opens again.

🌿 Returning Is the Practice

We often treat presence like a discipline to maintain.

Stay focused.

 Stay grounded.

 Don’t drift.

But the morning glory teaches something softer:

Drifting is not the problem.

 Harshness is.

The practice is not staying awake forever.

 The practice is noticing…

 and returning.

Returning to breath.

 Returning to sensation.

 Returning to the body as a safe place to land.

🏵 Gentleness Builds Strength

Your system does not need more pressure to grow.

It needs safety.

 It needs nourishment.

 It needs permission to begin again.

Strength is not born from forcing awareness to stay.

 It blooms when awareness feels welcome to return.

🌸 An Invitation for This Week

Instead of asking,

 “How long can I stay present?”

Try asking,

 “How kindly can I come back?”

This week, let the morning glory set the pace.

Open when you can.

 Allow the fading.

 Return without judgment.

🌿 A Small Vow

May I bloom into awareness

 at least once today.

And when it fades,

 may I remember—

another breath

 is already waiting.

Here’s to strength that lasts.

 Here’s to movement with meaning.

 Here’s to mornings that set the tone for decades. 🌿