Seeing the Extraordinary amidst the Ordinary
Thursday, January 05, 2006
I noticed this morning, as I had suspected and now it is confirmed, that I have at least one nightly visitor and quite possibly more, judging by the low level of my pond, to my homemade waterfall. I spent quite a while this morning wondering who the thirsty one might be. Perhaps, it’s the bobcat I saw the other morning jumping down from a large dead tree stump and disappearing into the tall grasses. Or maybe a deer managed to escape the hunter’s scope, and in its getaway built up a sorely needed quench to its thirst. Perhaps, there is a fox about the neighborhood, or a lynx (rumors of this creature’s presence I have heard), or maybe raccoons, or o’possums (do they require much water?)
I observe my guesses about my mysterious nightly visitor/s include what I consider the more exotic type creature when indeed the chances are it was simply the neighborhood cat stopping by for a refreshing drink during his nightly prowl.
How typical of me to seek excitement in the extraordinary events of life rather than find that same feeling in the ordinary. I once read a quotation from a famous actress, Marlene Dietrich, I think, which was something like “Happiness is finding the ordinary things of life to be extraordinary”
It goes to the heart of human nature and its tendency to always want more; whether it be more fun, more material things, or more stimulation ; always more something. I, and maybe you, often seek “more” something, someone, or someplace outside myself to fill the “hole”. Once I filled it with escape in whatever form I chose whether it be simply denial or "pushing down", when there was not that “more” I needed. And, of course, now I “know”, at my age and through my experiences that happiness and wholeness come from within.
Yet little things like fantasizing as to the extraordinary nightly visitor over the plain household cat seem to remind me of the maxim “Happiness comes from within and happiness is finding the ordinary things of life to be extraordinary.” Enjoy today looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary: such is the mystery of life.
I noticed this morning, as I had suspected and now it is confirmed, that I have at least one nightly visitor and quite possibly more, judging by the low level of my pond, to my homemade waterfall. I spent quite a while this morning wondering who the thirsty one might be. Perhaps, it’s the bobcat I saw the other morning jumping down from a large dead tree stump and disappearing into the tall grasses. Or maybe a deer managed to escape the hunter’s scope, and in its getaway built up a sorely needed quench to its thirst. Perhaps, there is a fox about the neighborhood, or a lynx (rumors of this creature’s presence I have heard), or maybe raccoons, or o’possums (do they require much water?)
I observe my guesses about my mysterious nightly visitor/s include what I consider the more exotic type creature when indeed the chances are it was simply the neighborhood cat stopping by for a refreshing drink during his nightly prowl.
How typical of me to seek excitement in the extraordinary events of life rather than find that same feeling in the ordinary. I once read a quotation from a famous actress, Marlene Dietrich, I think, which was something like “Happiness is finding the ordinary things of life to be extraordinary”
It goes to the heart of human nature and its tendency to always want more; whether it be more fun, more material things, or more stimulation ; always more something. I, and maybe you, often seek “more” something, someone, or someplace outside myself to fill the “hole”. Once I filled it with escape in whatever form I chose whether it be simply denial or "pushing down", when there was not that “more” I needed. And, of course, now I “know”, at my age and through my experiences that happiness and wholeness come from within.
Yet little things like fantasizing as to the extraordinary nightly visitor over the plain household cat seem to remind me of the maxim “Happiness comes from within and happiness is finding the ordinary things of life to be extraordinary.” Enjoy today looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary: such is the mystery of life.
posted by Sandra | 6:41 PM
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