“Rejoicing in ordinary things is not sentimental or trite. It actually takes guts. Each time we drop our complaints and allow everyday good fortune to inspire us, we enter the warrior’s world.”
–Pema Chodron
ver have a thought that you want to express but can't quite find the words for it? Yeah, me too. I had that today as I was pondering which common miracle(s) to highlight this week. I knew what I was experiencing, but couldn't find the word for it. Serendipity? Blessed? Some odd kind of deja vu? A crazy love affair with autumn? Yes, a bit of each, but nothing really captured the feeling that followed me much of the day. It was somewhere between nostalgia and joy, but I couldn't come up with a word to fit my mood.All my senses were engaged. Driving into town, I found myself singing--completely spontaneously--an ELO song, "Ticket to the Moon," and could practically feel myself back in 1983 (or was it '82?). When I was running this morning, all the autumn scents of dirt and moisture and even a bit of rot/death were warming up to the day; it smelled fabulous. I ate some butternut squash and chevre, and of course some figs. I got caught by a sprinkler when I was fiddling in the garden, and even though it was COLD for the first time in months, I loved it. All my senses were in a happy place. (And I swear, I didn't take anything. Really.)
Later, when I opened up my web browser to my blog and went down the sidebar to see who had updated their blogs today, I saw this headline: Do You Often (or Ever) Feel a Wonderful, Joyous, Childhood Feeling of Expectancy?, and laughed out loud. Total a-ha moment... yep, that's it! Wonderful, joyous, expectant. Heck if I know what I'm expecting, exactly, but that's the closest thing I can think of how to describe my common miracle for today. (And no, it's not a word either. I do wonder if one exists and I have a feeling a couple of my readers will tell me if there is!) (Brent, I already looked through the list of untranslatable words you sent my way, it's not there either, though I did not read through all 900 comments... it might be there, somewhere!)
I consider it pretty miraculous to live on this planet and be aware of how much pain and suffering there is every single day--among people close to our hearts as well as those we haven't even met--and to still know joy and wonder and expectancy.
OK, let me have it. What one word fits the description above?!
Keeping track of Common Miracles is lovely. To see how the project began, go here.
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I know exactly what you mean- being in the flow of life, being tuned in, being tapped in to all the magic and possibility and beauty of the world. Being engaged with life. It's also the season, at least for me- this is the season when it seems most possible.
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