The white wash of clouds continues across the desert. The gentle wind can be heard as it slices itself into a thousand gusts on the sharp edges of sand dunes. The heat from the sun almost turns the sand to glass. The dunes remain unbroken into the horizon. The blue sky stretches on in its infinite beauty.

There is no lesson to be learned here, except for the most important one of all: there is nothing to gain from this scene except to accept what it is. The beauty in the world doesn’t come from exquisite dinners and glittering diamonds. The beauty in the world comes from its ordinariness, a mundanity that shines through the grit. It’s just an empty desert, yet mindfulness freshens everything.

The desert is empty, but with attention to the present moment, you burst into an experience unlike what you left: a new world of excitement that unlocks the experience in front of you. What is the texture of the sand? What shade of blue is the sky? What kind of curvature does that sand dune have? Details come to life with attention to the present moment. Even in a scene void of apparent meaning, you can find details to examine, to dive into. And with that comes the appreciation of those details, which brings gratitude that you can experience those details at all.

When you inject mindfulness into your routine, the mundane tasks glow with attention. You fall deep into single-pointed focus, where everything else falls away. Joy comes from knowing that you have this mundane experience for life, and with the right understanding of mindfulness, a lifetime is enough.

If your life lacks meaning, it just means you need to be more mindful of your daily tasks. Focus on the details of everything you do. Do this and watch your world bloom, even in the emptiest of deserts.