First, read this:
Next Time by Mary Oliver
Next time what I'd do is look at
the earth before saying anything. I'd stop
just before going into a house
and be an emperor for a minute
and listen better to the wind
or to the air being still.
When anyone talked to me, whether
blame or praise or just passing time,
I'd watch the face, how the mouth
has to work, and see any strain, any
sign of what lifted the voice.
And for all, I'd know more -- the earth
bracing itself and soaring, the air
finding every leaf and feather over
forest and water, and for every person
the body glowing inside the clothes
like a light.
Then, read SouleMama's post today, and then read Remodeling This Life's post regarding living slowly. Really: today, click the links, give yourself a few minutes to read, and allow your heart to be quiet, just for a minute.
In three small items to read, you have the distillation of a concept that is slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y forming itself in my brain. It starts with the somewhat cliched idea, so oft repeated, that we must "live in the now", "live every moment", etc etc ad nauseum. Yet I think that these 3 women have found a way to articulate exactly why we must take that moment to be still, to see a moment in our child's lives for what it really is, to be ever-mindful of the passing of hours/minutes/days: in our parenting, in our cooking, in our loving, in our connecting.
Yes we can laugh, commiserate and wryly dissect all that goes on in our mad lives. We can have a Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day! But in choosing to see the beauty in the small treasures hidden in pockets [instead of Laundry Hazards], in choosing to listen to the small voices in the dark after you've said goodnight [instead of hurrying down the stairs], in stopping amidst the swirling noise to say For This I am Thankful, we are choosing to uplift ourselves in the most holy of ways, in the most celebratory of ways.
Today, celebrate your own life, and all the small things (and people) in it. You will be a richer person for it.
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1 comment:
A good reminder about priorities and perspective - thanks :)
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