I wanted to talk about macrobiotic living in this blog - about seeing the big picture. Sometimes this is a difficult thing to do as we get caught up in the small details of our lives. It was brought home to me early last Friday morning. I woke up very early to a storm; as the thunderstorm passed the wind started to blow and I knew I would get up and see lots of broken branches and damaged flowers. The window was open and suddenly I could smell smoke.

I ran outside and saw that the cottage that we had been painstakingly building for the last four years was on fire. There was nothing I could do. I was devastated. For three hours I waited until the fire department was gone and I could safely sit down and cry; only to find that the little pond at the side of the cottage was filled with rubble. I remembered the frogs and several hundred tadpoles inside. With two helpers I cleaned for the rest of the day. We took out the tadpoles one by one, put them in a bucket of water and drained and cleaned out the pond.

All that clean up work had been a good thing for me. I realised that I felt differently; it was not the end of the world after all. My family, my friends, my pets were all safe and, after all, the cottage could be rebuilt. For a few hours I had been unable to see the big picture; I had forgotten what macrobiotic living means.

So when you take the kids to school, run to the store, send that e-mail, remember to stop just for a moment. Take that moment and breathe deeply. Smell the flowers, feel the warmth of the sun, talk to your neighbor or co-worker and consciously still your mind. Those little in-between moments when you seem to be doing nothing are the most important moments. That is when time stands still and that is macrobiotic living.

To see the world in a grain of sand
And Heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour

William Blake
Auguries of Innocence