Since last autumn, when I began to make some marked changes in my inner life and schedule, I have experienced moments of pure happiness. Moments so unexpected they’ve left me giddy.
“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” – Kurt Vonnegut
Is it that the circumstances in my life have changed? Not hugely. I still have many of the same struggles (finances, business stresses, health). But I think these gems I’m enjoying are the result of simply slowing down, make space in my schedule, and allowing myself to be content. Noticing when something makes me happy. It sounds so cliche, I know. Whatever. It’s working.
Walking down the street, earbuds on, a perfect album playing in subtle harmony to the breeze wrapping around me. Amazing.
A fleeting exchange with the old lady jaywalking while I wait at the crosswalk:
“You rebel!” I say.
“I’m a wild thing,” she laughs.
The recently discovered sweet, seductive warmth of scotch.
Black coffee, on a quiet morning, with nowhere to be.
The hush during a heavy snowfall.
Words on paper written by a brilliant mind, leaving me gasping for air, heart pounding, or wiping away tears.
Tiny, simple bits of life. So easily grasped if I am aware. How have I let myself miss them these last few years? I won’t waste much time on regrets or worry that I’ll miss more in the future. I just want to be.
“In this story
we sit down on Luna Bridge
and catch snow in our cupped hands
and music is
coming from the houses
or it sings inside me
I begin to mend
Oh happy, oh happy, the end,
the end, the end.
In this painting
the whole world is navy blue
I run home from the mailbox
in all the dim of five o’clock
to see you.
Cars and trees go by me,
you are in the yard
and in my arms again
Oh happy, oh happy, the end,
the end, the end
Happy, oh happy
the end.”
– The Innocence Mission
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