Since November is ( for those who live in the U.S.) the month of Thanksgiving, I want to take the next three weeks to make daily posts about things I am grateful for. There was an old hymn I heard growing up called “Count your blessings”. So since I believe gratitude begets blessings, (and we could use a little more of that,) Come with me as we go on this journey of thankfulness.
Feeling very harried today. My mind seems rushed and I haven’t felt centered the whole day. Sadly this isn’t really due to an overbooked schedule as much as it is due to poor time management skills. Well, that and the fact that I am still trying to reconcile my sleep cycle with working an evening shift. In fact, I am writing this on my lunch break at work, my weekend doesn’t even begin until 10pm tonight. But given my topic today this is actually a bit fitting for today I am grateful for the ‘little things ‘ and the mindfulness I need to notice them.
When I was in my 20’s I was in a play called ‘Our Town” the main character is a young woman (Emily) who dies while giving birth In the playwright Thornton Wilder’s world there isn’t a Heaven or hell in the afterlife just a sort of limbo where the deceased are in a zen-like bliss. Emily wants to go back to the world of the living she is told she can go back for one day and is told to try to pick an uneventful day because she will find even that to be overwhelming She picks her 12th birthday. She realizes that everyone around her just goes through life oblivious to the joy around them. As she returns to the land of the deceased she gives this speech. I always liked it because it really struck me as the playwright speaking from their own voice. here is the speech:
“Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover’s Corners… Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking… and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths…and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”
Life is full of little wonderful things such as this. As the years progress it seems each day becomes more of a blur. I am always moving with the clock breathing down my neck, moving as fast as I can with my mind always ten steps ahead of me. The days, for the most part, all bleed together uneventful and mundane with few exceptions.
But the truth is each day is filled with countless blessings. Like the second’s hand on the eternal clock of bliss, each one fractional, seemingly infinitesimal and minute, but wholly wonderful a world unto itself. Small words, small acts, and nuance like atoms holding great power and if split with the power of mindfulness able to be explosive. Thank you to all the little unheralded beauty that is life.
