Serenity Amidst Stress
Serenity Amidst Stress
A familiar and piercing headache struck,
What used to be a joyful ride home,
After a busy Friday at work.
A chunk of my mind pondered:
Was my job,
The product of my youthful diligence,
With its twelve hour days,
Mediocre pay,
And consumption of precious time away from my young kids,
Worth it?
A corner of my mind was fearful:
Thoughts of my elderly father,
Several thousand miles and three continents away,
Immobile with relentless pain,
Brought back memories of my childhood,
As I realized,
that I might lose him.
Any leftover space in my mind,
Was angered,
By the heavy traffic,
Ahead of me.
Overwhelmed,
I remembered what my therapist taught me to do,
As I took a deep breath,
And looked for serenity around me.
I noticed the majestic descent of the sun,
As its magnificent orange rays,
Danced their way to the ground,
Through the scattered white clouds.
I felt pity for the beautiful autumn leaves,
That precariously hung onto trees,
As they took in the last of the humid air they could,
Before they plunged to their demise.
I adored the gorgeous sky-rises I drove towards,
That peacefully announced their authority,
Over the busy land beneath.
My therapist was right,
I realized,
As a smile emerged on my face.
If I found myself swamped with stress,
I had to focus,
On the simplicity of the present,
And on the beauty of the moments,
That I was lucky to be alive in,
For that's what makes the journey of life,
Truly worthwhile.