18 September 2015

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.  ~W.B. Yeats

We’re each day, every moment, creating life.  Creating our life.

A month or so ago, my husband posted an old photo of me on Facebook.  In the photo, I’m in my early twenties, crouched beside the motorcycle I was taking on a road trip to the Southwest.  One of my nephews who’d seen the photo asked me how the trip, a sizable adventure, had changed me.

This question stymied me at the time and for several weeks after I searched for the imprint of that trip but couldn’t find an alteration of my path going forward or shifts in understanding that I could pinpoint to those weeks of travel.  But my nephew’s attention caught something in that snapshot.  I think what he’d noticed was how as the journey unfurled, I’d unfurled too.  The trip didn’t so much change me as allow me to express my essence more fully.

Vacations allow us to do that.  To come out from under the list of chores, step beyond the fences and the timelines, leave behind the responsibilities.

This idea of shaking it up is about seeing if we can nurture the parts of us that come to life and glow on vacation.   To play around with brightening up daily life by breaking out of our day-to-day boxes when we’re comfortably ensconced at home, too.  I know it’s easy to feel I’m too tired or too rushed to think of anything but tending to business.

But here’s the thing.  This is our life.  These are our days.  Today will not come around again.

Sometimes we think we’ll be happy when the dishes are done, the deadlines met, the argument healed.  When we’re on vacation.  This notion defers satisfaction.

Meanwhile, right here, right now, in our hearts and in our hands, is our life.  Waiting for us to pay attention and express our essence.

Stepping outside an unproductive thought loop to notice the world, the people, the sunset, the scents can enrich everything.  A deep, luxurious breath can change the world as we see it, as we know it, as we experience it

I’m going to keep playing around with this and invite you to, too.  Let’s maybe wear the special earrings.  Listen to a favorite song again and again.  Sing along, dance in the kitchen while we make dinner, smile unabashedly at someone we don’t know.  Switch off a criticism to replace it with gratitude.

I’ve put a copy of that photo on my fridge.  Do you have a photo of yourself sometime when you were feeling fully, joyfully alive?  What about slipping a copy of it up on your fridge?  See if you find, like I am, that the image inspires you to feel that more of life is up for grabs and full of possibility.