A Little Reminder
Wednesday, January 06, 2010 Edit This 11 Comments »
I spent a few minutes following a link that Jess @ Openly Balanced left in the last comment section and found the reminder that I needed. I LOVE reading the comments you all leave. If you don't subscribe to the comments, I highly recommend it. There is so much beautifully useful, helpful sharing going on there.
I forget, sometimes, to consider how much time is going to the simple, everyday, forgettable tasks. I forget how I made these choices and why I value them. I forget that not everyone is washing dishes by hand, making everything they eat from scratch or raising their household temperature 80 degrees over the negative temperatures outside by building fires. I forget the spiritual energy that is gained by turning trees from the woods around us into that heat... the hauling, cutting, splitting, stacking, and actual process of building a fire.
There are so many things, seemingly insignificant, that make up our day. So many things that are not at all insignificant... just natural.
The hour spent discussing the incredible, almost unfathomable scope of educating and rearing our children. The hour spent hiking through the snow with Quinn, drawing his awareness to the natural world around him... the story told by the million signs around us... the tracks in the snow... the sudden outburst from treetop crows... the way the wind shapes the landscape,...where the snow is deep and where it is completely absent... the possibility of thin ice being right next to the ice we could safely tread upon. So many things... so small... a million tiny moments that make up the whole feel of our life.
It amazes me how quickly I can forget this world, this life, for the life in my head, in my dreams. How many details of this beautiful life escape my notice because I am making lists, planning articles and generally trying to live in a world that does not exist, and will never exist as I see it in my head. Without taking each moment for it's fullest possibility how can I expect any other moment to open up for me, or to even recognize it when it arrives.
Sometimes I forget that in each moment, and only in that moment, I will know best what to do with it. If I am present, truly present, and choose to jump in on the kids silly yoga practice rather than responding to emails about Fibromyalgia, that it is not because I have failed to prioritize but because I HAVE prioritized. Because I AM living by my true values, not those imposed by a world which I hope to change by the example I set for my kids and the choices that I make.
How easily we can forget to value our own moments... the real ones. How easily we can miss the illumination of everything around us.
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11 comments:
I miss those moments a ton. I have to kick myself sometimes for it. Even now that I've left the law behind and have way more time it's still something I am working on.
Jack
Thank you for this post. By far one of the more beautifully written and insightful posts you've shared.
I have yet to sit down and make resolutions for this year (I'm a bigger believer in enacting positive changes and doing self-reflections and self-evaluations as you see fit and making S.M.A.R.T. goals instead) but one thing I did do to prepare for this upcoming year is take a Moleskine notebook and add some of my own artistic touches to the cover. I don't plan for it to be a journal because I already have one of those that I don't write it nearly enough, but I plan for this notebook to be one of happiness and inspiration. Quotes, pictures, a flower, etc. A mixed-media collection to remind me of the beauty in everyday life that we so easily forget.
I think we all struggle with this on a day to day basis. Mindfulness, the practise of this principle, seems to be the key. I think we will all be working towards mindfulness until we pass from this world into whatever is next. The important thing is we try to make our choices based on our principles and remind ourselves when we start to second guess our choices.
I think you are making the best choices to nurture and spend as much time with your little ones as possible. Mine are now 23, 20 and 18 and I still strive to be present and be there for the teaching and special moments, even now when they are adults and have flown the nest or are getting ready to, as is the case with my 18 and 20 year old.
Hugs from one mother to another... :)
The UK is snowed under in a way that doesn't often happen. Schools are closed, no buses are running, people are not going to work. Its all a lovely reminder of nature at work. And the difference of seeing the empty roads and people walking, all wrapped up, rosy cheery faces, the cold has a physical presence, its like the world anew. ica Brings you back to the present. presence. Its new
Yay :) I am glad that you liked it. It made me think so strongly of you!
And know that you ARE changing the world, not only by the example you set for your children and the choices you make, but by writing about your life and your choices here. Thank you for sharing a little piece of your life and your spirit with us!
I got caught up in my lists and planning yesterday. I ended up in total meltdown mode at the end of night. I just went and hid in the bath tub.
I feel like such a little kid in those moments. I just want a hug and a kiss.
Our family's primary goal in life is to do exactly what you are doing now. In fact, I think what is wrong with the world now is that we aren't more in touch with the simple, slow moving tasks that actually nurture our family instead of expecting machines or money to take care of it all for us.
I love coming here and seeing some of my beliefs and ideas reinforced!
I have a goal of making all my meals from scratch. I'm not there...yet...but I'm much further along than I was a year, 6 months or even 3 months ago.
I've washed dishes by hand all my life. By the time I lived in a house that had a dishwasher I had committed to living a water-conscious life (after 27 months in the Peace Corps in west Africa where my water came not from a tap but by the bucket on the heads of students I learned the value of water).
It is frustrating sometimes when people I work with are amazed and/or appalled by some of my choices. Flushing the toilet with bath water, line-drying laundry (even in winter), keeping my thermostat set at 55 (time to throw another log on the fire), paying the high monetary price of local, pasture-raised chicken and eggs...
I take my own plate, fork and cup to a local eatery so as not to use the disposable items they have and a co-worker found it embarrassing. One of the ladies working there told me she goes home and teaches her kids the things she’s learned from me. And my co-worker…she was proud of me for that but still thinks I’m crazy for bringing my own stuff.
So again, I come here to find like mindedness (and a kick-butt cranberry sauce recipe!!) and breathe it in, deeply. Thank you Amiee and cage free followers!
:-D That would be the huge smile y'all bring to my face
xoxo
Aimee,
Beautifully put. I love reading your entries, and I'm SOOOOOOO jealous of you having Simone. My third and last just turned three and is (finally) potty trained and I'm missing babies so much.
It's 17F here in Austin tonight and my Texas house is a little drafty. Lots of love to you in your snowy paradise.
Amy (who emailed you before!)
Thanks for commenting on my blog. Your RV is gorgeous and so is your immobile home. :) Looking forward to reading more.
(TheOrganicSister)
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