Love of the Ordinary

Remember the child who receives a fancy toy for Christmas by his doting parents. Watch as the child opens the present, see the looks of adoration on the faces of the parents, then note the surprise that moves across their faces that changes in the next moment to disappointment, finally, as the light dawns, to delight.

What are they seeing? They’re watching their first born open the present, look at it briefly, discard it, and, then happily play with the box and wrappings for hours.

As I write this, I’m in Kona, on the Big Island, Hawaii. This is everybody’s paradise. I have thrown out the present and am endlessly enjoying the wrapper.

What draws me? I pass on the fancy catamaran trip to the best snorkel sit on the island. I pass on the night dive with the manta rays. This dive was life changing for some in my family. I pass on the parasail lifting high over Kailua Bay, which Kevin thought was the best event of the trip.

I pass because the ordinary steals my heart. Instead of stopping and smelling the roses, I stop and smell the plumaria.

The unfamiliar and ubiquitous bird songs of the mynas and the zebra doves enchant me.

The Saffron Finch that joins my dawn Taiji becomes a loved companion.

I listen to the ever-changing sounds of the surf 30 feet (10 m) outside my window. I “fly” over coral reefs, listening to the sound of my breathing as I snorkel in a rocky cove, 100m south of here.

My Zen teacher, Genjo, might say, “Zen is the celebration of the ordinary.” At any rate, I say so.

Now, what ordinary miracles do I see at home? Home too is paradise if I would but look. This trip I was bowled over by how beautiful Seattle is. Everywhere I look, I see the Divine.

What is sacred and magic about the ordinary in your life? Find it. I promise you its there.

Exercise: Go outside for 10 minutes, look with your artist’s eye, and find three things that knock your socks off. That make you say, “Oh, wow!”

Example: As I was driving home, I saw a photographer surrounded by trees with the astonishing fall colors, the beauty of the lake behind him, as he took a photo from one foot away (15cm) of a pay telephone. I almost pulled over to so I could see what he was seeing. Get it?


If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the best of us walk about well wadded with stupidity. – George Eliot

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. – Our old friend, Henry David Thoreau

Blessings,

William

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Paradigms Explored

· Upgrade Your Right Brain
· Simple Is Sophisticated