Walking through Central Park one morning, during my usual trek to the office, I noticed something that I’ve seen many times but never experienced in quite this way. A dog was doing its thing and, after it had relieved itself, I happened to glance over and notice that the feces it left behind began to steam in the cold morning air.

As I noticed this everyday act, performed by all living things in one way or another, and the unexpected sight of steam rising from the dog’s feces, I found myself caught up in an awareness of the miracle that is physical form. We take nourishment into our bodies and something truly wonderful happens. That nourishment becomes transformed in a way that allows the body to feed every cell in whatever ways are needed and then, in its inherent wisdom, the body gets rid of the waste it doesn’t need. In nature, that waste becomes food for the soil and the plants growing in it, as well as for insects and other life forms. Plants also take in carbon dioxide and use it to nourish themselves and then release oxygen that we then breathe. And on the story goes, in a physical ecology that nourishes, supports, and balances itself through using the resources of all its parts.
For the rest of that morning’s walk, I was enveloped in what I can only call a kind of ”delighted” gratitude for the immense wisdom, creativity, and efficiency of the physical world. Miracles happen all around us all the time, even though they are the stuff of everyday life. Imagine what it would be like if we had to consciously heal a wound or cause our bodies to absorb the oxygen we breathe. What if we had to figure out how to extract nutrients from the food we eat and then create the waste products that we don’t?

I often have the experience of the miracle of my body – that it allows me to be in the physical world with all my senses, and is the vehicle by which I experience my everyday life. Having the ability to walk across the park each morning is a gift from my body that I appreciate deeply. Having senses with which to experience the sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of the world represents an abundance of riches in my life, even with the inevitable physical challenges along the way.

As you read these words, I invite you to take a moment to sense into your body and notice how it feels if you were to take some time simply to appreciate the immensity of the gifts it offers you, the most basic one being that it allows you to be here, in your physical life. Often, physical distress, injury, illness, or other experiences can lead us to feel our bodies are an enemy or a force that limits our capacity to enjoy our lives. If that’s the case for you, notice what is *right* about your body and what it’s like to appreciate that fact, even as you also acknowledge sources of discomfort. For the moment, allow what’s right to be in the foreground of your awareness and the discomfort or difficulty to be in the background, and notice how that is for you.

Then, as you go through this week, invite yourself to do so in a way that allows you to be conscious of the constant miracle that is your physical life. When you eat a meal, take a moment to acknowledge that the food you put into your body will automatically become the nourishment that supports your physical well being. When you relieve yourself, notice that miracle as well. And, as you move through your daily activities, using whatever of your senses you have available, take a moment to register that you have these senses available and that they constantly enrich and inform your experience.

Whenever you run into conflicted feelings about your body, acknowledge them even as you continue to also acknowledge the miracle of physical life. With this experiment, the goal isn’t to arrive anywhere, or to accomplish anything. It’s to develop a habit of being more aware of the partnership you have with your body and how you experience that partnership. It’s also an opportunity to have one more way to experience and express gratitude, which is a deeply nourishing and enlivening state of mind-body being in itself.

As with all the experiments, play with this one and notice what you discover about your relationship to your body, and to the miracles of everyday physical life.