Moments of Wonder Finding joy on a typical day
Quite often we find ourselves going about each day the same as the next. Not much to differentiate one from the other. You get up and it’s off to the races. Starting our daily routine and time slips by without really knowing where it has gone. Unless you actively do something everyday that changes that routine up each new day becomes like the one before it. Yikes! This to me is how we lose time. We don’t know how long we have in this world and the idea of lost time is frightening.
It is hard not to get stuck in a rut. With an ever growing to do list and work life taking up so much of the day, especially if you have a family to care for, well times gets eaten up. I was having one of those days a few weeks ago. Get up, start getting family ready for school, drive everyone to where they need to go, and then head back home to get down to work. After I dropped off the last child to school and my brain was already in go mode, racing with thoughts of all that had to accomplish. Things to get done for my family, my home, and moving my business forward to name a few.
I needed to try and find some inspiration. I had been flipping through radio stations on my way home and nothing was sounding right for me. I really wanted something that would get me pumped for the day but all I found was stuff that made me feel even more antsy. My mind was spinning and restless and so I gave the radio one last chance. “Hopefully,” I thought, “the classical channel will have something to calm my mind.”
This is where a little gift came my way. Stopped in a long line of cars at a red light, the radio host introduced a piece from a Persian composer. The song promised to be rich and complex, filled with story, intrigue, and excitement. I glanced out my driver side window while listening and waiting for the light to change to green. The music shifted into a very light and whimsical dance of celebration and at the very same moment, a monarch butterfly dropped down from above, outside my driver's side window. For each note of the music the butterfly matched in its movements, moving as if it were a conductor leading the symphony. Flitting and floating with the music, punctuating the notes with attention to every change in tempo. Staying outside my window performing for my eyes only. Just as magical as the moment had arrived it ended. In that second the song shifted to a deeper slower pace, the light changed to green and the butterfly took a sharp turn to the left and disappeared into the trees.
I was absolutely spellbound! Life had offered me something so splendid that, in a short moment, I had shifted my racing mind to one of pure amazement, delight, and gratitude. Life had found a way to remind me to slow down, appreciate and be grateful for the small and simple things. I found myself saying thank you out loud for this beautiful gift I had just been given. The rest of my day was filled with such excitement and joy and I promised to remind myself each day to appreciate the little things and everyday moments that make life special.
I’m going to end this post with a quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This was one of my favorite movies growing up and it sums up how I am feeling these days.
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller.
When you truly Live, Eat and Love well every day, wonderful things can happen. Wishing You Joy, from the Fingerless Kitchen ~ Bryony Grealish Syracuse, NY
