Tag: Excitement

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In_Plain_Sight

Photo: Kranich17/Pixabay

As we go through our lives, we visually take in a great many things that register in our brains in various ways. Sometimes, we look all over the house for our car keys or glasses, only to find them in a very obvious place. Obvious to everyone but us. Driving a car through the city or the countryside brings more things to catch our attention, but we tend to describe our journey as bucolic or fast-paced, without mentioning the things we saw. When questioned by others, ‘Did you see the museum on Park Avenue?’ or perhaps, ‘Isn’t the old covered bridge beautiful?’ we offer an answer but only a half-baked one, not having remembered whether or not we saw it. Then we go on for some time about the things we made the trip to see. The things we expected to see. The reason we made the effort to see them. We saw what we wanted to see. And only what we wanted to see.

Which begs the question: how much do we miss in our lives by not observing those things we did not expect to see? Seeing the beauty of a stark landscape, or hearing  the laugh of a happy child, noticing the beauty of the stars in a clear night sky. How many people have we overlooked because we did not expect to see them come into our lives, and exiting just as quickly. And what about those people or situations that are not happy ones: those who suffer from disease, poverty or loneliness, or perhaps the stray dog near our work whose days are filled with finding food and shelter. While we cannot save the world ourselves, seeing it as it is, as it really is, and not as we expect it, can be the beginning of making it better.

We all read about those who took a chance on finding a better way to move through life; seeing people for who they are, what they need, and asking how we could help. It doesn’t take millions of dollars, or a foundation donating money or goods to make things better. Time is something we can all donate to any number of organizations that try to help adverse situations, allowing us to learn more about what is needed and how we, and those we know, make an effort to improve life for us all. These things are in plain sight of us all, but do we see them? If we do, does our discomfort lead us to ignore the problem, telling ourselves that surely someone is doing something to make this better. But is this the case? Largely, it is not the case, and things are being left to those ‘others’ who never appear, leaving us in the same situation.

Taking a chance by saying to ourselves ‘I am someone…’ who can make things begin to happen and to help nullify adverse situations and help those affected by them. Sticking our neck out is not something that is particularly comfortable at first, but like many things, it becomes easier the more we do it. Seeing the changes we help cause becomes its own reward for us, and the impact on others, unable to help themselves, makes our world a better place for all.

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Not Judging the Mundane

Everyone loves excitement and new experiences in their lives. We take vacations to places both familiar and exotic, reveling in the differences of that place as opposed to our ‘usual’ place. We watch movies and hear concerts for stories and music played live rather than recorded, and we read books to learn about so many things beyond our own world. And we will continue to do so because it enriches us, makes us think about people and the world in a different way. Sometimes it reinforces what we already think, and it is good to see those familiar things expressed from a different point of view. 

What about the mundane things in our lives? Those less exciting parts of life that need to be done like the laundry, cutting the grass, doing homework, or reports at work, and all those things we have judged to be less-than-interesting. What about those? Many of us approach those things with an ‘I just need to get this done,’ usually as quickly as possible, before moving on to something else. And that’s fine. Cutting grass as I was growing up was hardly my favorite thing to do, but it was one of the expectations my parents had of me, and there was no negotiating this. So I did it. At first, I was a bit irritated, especially in the hot, humid Midwestern summers that made me think this time would be better spent on a tennis court: if I were going to be out in this weather, I might as well be doing something I really enjoyed. So I begrudgingly finished cutting the grass, and then headed to the local courts of a game of tennis with a friend. What if, instead of bolting through the task at hand—cutting the grass—I had simply accepted it as a part of my life, which it was, and gave it the attention it deserved. Doing a good job, just because it was one of my responsibilities, and doing it well enough to actually take pleasure in the fact that I had done it well? That would have been beyond me at that time of life, but looking back at that, what if I had given it the best I could do, and then gone off to do something I deemed more satisfactory? As Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, be fully mindful of what you’re doing, as you’re doing it. He promises nothing but peace of mind and soul when we operate that way. 

Taking each thing, or task, or challenge, as life presents it to us, giving it our full attention, and navigating it as best we can is a great example of living fully in the present. As the present is all we really have, why do we all fight this? Most of us have ‘better things to do’ in most cases, and we would really rather get to them, rather than reach them through the other obstacles in life. These little, seemingly mundane activities are actually a fantastic time to teach ourselves to give due attention the folding the laundry, washing the dishes, and, of course, cutting the grass; learning how to quickly focus our attention for the best result possible. And that is a skill anyone can take to the bank, as the saying goes, as it will become the core of how we navigate life and face problems.

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Stress

“Mass Shooting in Las Vegas: 58 Dead and over 500 Wounded”

“15-Story Crane Topples Into Manhattan Street”

“Government Threatens Shutdown Unless Conditions Are Met”

“Health Care Battle In Congress Resumes with 2 Opposing Plans”

We are greeting each morning with headlines like these, or more concerning, depending on our differing viewpoints on what we feel is the root cause of each situation.  Long before the Internet claimed the top spot for information dissemination, radio and television lured us to listen or watch, as we were fed the details of the heinous events, either escalating our distress, or easing our concern as we learned  more of what had occurred that day.  An entire generation grew up watching the film clips of what had happened in Vietnam that day, often while eating dinner with the family, slowly becoming desensitized to the atrocities committed in this conflict taking place half-way around the world.  Only when the military returned to the US did the real toll of what had happened there begin to creep into our collective conscious.

How does this affect us?  I’ve noticed a consistent stress level, and an edge to most of us, as we go to work, shop for food, and go about our lives, that quickly activates our ‘fight-or-flight’ mechanism, and we defend or avoid quickly.  That ‘fight-or-flight’ instinct is so deeply ingrained at the core of who we are as humans, due to the fact that at one time, it meant the difference between eating dinner and being dinner, and thus our survival. So ignoring it is really not an option.  What if, though, we chose  NOT to jump on social media, our favorite news app, or turn on the radio or TV?  Would we still stay informed?  Perhaps with less frequent ‘updates’ on what’s going on in the world, we might pay closer attention to smaller, but important things that seem to fade into the background in the face of the World-Altering Events we learn about on our smartphones, and actually notice the little things that used to make us smile, even if only for a brief moment. Children seeing things for the very first time. Birds reappearing each Spring. The painting on the wall you bought how-many-years ago on that impromptu vacation to the beach. Tiny, almost insignificant things that excited you so much at one time, that have become part and parcel of your existence, and you’ve ceased to see them in the same way.

A favorite line from a Zac Brown song goes, ‘Keep your heart above your head, and your eyes wide open…’ and it’s pointed me to that simpler way I used to live, before….  What really gives me pleasure?  Is it the new car or sport coat? Sure, those are nice things, but a beautiful morning where I can have my coffee outside, or a conversation with my family or an old friend stays with me, whereas the newness of ‘things’ wears off pretty quickly.  So, here’s the game-changer:  what makes you excited, giddy, and maybe a little nervous with anticipation, and how can you bring that back into your life?