Finding Magic On Garbage Day
I took the garbage out today. Slid my feet into slippers and hopped down the icy steps. Pulled the heavy bin over frosted grass and took a deep breath in of cold air. My feet kept moving. Heart kept beating. The sun peeked over the horizon and I couldn’t help but think, how simple but beautiful this life is. My house is warm, slippers cozy. My feet keep moving me from one room to another, up and down steps, sometimes aching, sometimes not. They keep moving all the same.
Does everything work out perfectly all the time? No. Is every day easy? No. Is it somehow good anyway? Yes.
I tipped my cup of tea on my lap this morning. Stubbed my toe in the hall. Forgot to pull the chicken from the freezer for dinner. Last month I injured my foot and it hurt to walk for 3 weeks, and then last week my car wouldn’t start for 3 days.
My daughter has a cold and hasn’t slept well for a few days, which means I haven’t slept well either. I am tired and the laundry pile seems absolutely endless. And yet in spite of days that are endlessly ordinary and sometimes difficult, there is something sweet continually found in it all.
I think that in a way, this is a choice - this mindful presence found in the daily mundane. You have to decide to reach for it. You can get up on autopilot, weighed down by all the things that you need to do, all the things that aren’t going quite right. Or you can find the magic. Get up, watch the sun creep into the kitchen while you make coffee. Putting the coziest socks on slowly, getting ready to brush snow off the front steps and scrape frozen car windows with presence. Adapting to the fact that the chicken won’t be ready for dinner and stirring soup slowly in a pot instead. Noticing the pattern of ice crystals forming on the window. Sweeping the floor and actually listening to the sound of the broom passing over the hardwood. Letting the details of the mundane soak into your mind, your ears, your heart. All the ordinary things on your to do list can become mindful devotion with the simple gift of your presence.
Look around you - what ordinary beauty is right on your doorstep? I'd love to hear about. Tell me what you discover!
A choice we always have is where to put our attention. I admire you for your non Pollyannaish recognition of the shit, but refusal to believe that that is all there is. Even though it's sleeting, the sky was a wonderful color this morning. Even though I'm not going to Owl Poetry tonight bc I still can't see well bc of my cataract surgery, I have a great mystery novel to finish tonight and some audios to listen to. There is still beauty in our lives.