Clouds or Linings?

It’s our choice to perceive.

I’m not going to address gratitude, for that would take too long.

Rather, I’d prefer to address noticing.

Nature, and my travels, have taught me to be a better noticer. Being human, I miss an awful lot if for no other reason than there is so much to notice that it’s inevitable.

But the enforced slowdown has offered endless gifts.

Noticing that my new neighbors showed up yesterday to shovel my driveway of the spring snow, after I had done theirs the day before.

Noticing that that I have everything I really need and nothing I don’t. Wants are a different issue. I can’t get into comparisons here; not only is that odious, but I am well aware, as the result of my cultural immersions, of the nature of my situation as compared to many others. It is not within my ability to change that. I can only deal with what I can directly affect. That’s a choice.

Noticing every. Single. Thing. in life that would normally whip by me. Spring birds, new growth, the owls nesting in my pines.

Noticing that I have time — precious, delicious, incredible time — to spend on what I have avoided: web site design. Learning new technology.

Noticing. Building the skill of noticing. Acknowledging. Valuing.

So back to Dipti’s initial invite: not only do I wake up and spend fifteen minutes being grateful, now I do it at night as well.

Nobody can possibly say what interim habits will continue. What we might discard in the all-out rush to re-create a sense of normalcy.

However, as a writer, being a better noticer makes me a better writer.

The choice to notice, rather than distract myself is a powerful one.

The choice to notice, rather than to obsess about what I cannot change, is a powerful one.

The choice to notice, value and acknowledge what I do have rather than complain, whine or worry about what I do not, is a powerful one.

Every day I have the choice to see what I have as enough. As right, perfect, and good. Fair. What I do with it is up to me.

Every day I can add value to the world, or I can suck energy from it. Being alive, having consciousness, there is no middle ground.

As best as I am able, I choose to add value.

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