Paying Attention

Unexpected Life

“The practice of paying attention is as simple as looking twice at people and things you might just as easily ignore. To see takes time, like having a friend takes time. It is as simple as turning off the television to learn the song of a single bird. Why should anyone do such things? I cannot imagine---unless one is weary of crossing days off the calendar with no sense of what makes the last day different from the next.”
Barbara Brown Taylor (An Altar in the World)

My son, Ian, works downtown in a shop called ‘What’s On 2nd’, that sells every kind of vintage collectible and oddity. The shop is crammed with all your childhood memories and some goofy things that are one of a kind; everything from Elvis posters, to a blow-mold baby Jesus, to a Playboy pinball machine, to more than 100,000 vintage postcards, to 50’s era men’s hats, to tin-type photographs. Except for the postcards, everything is placed akimbo without the slightest concern for order. It is a fun place to spend an afternoon because there is so much to see both in the ever-changing inventory and in the human wildlife that comes and goes on a daily basis. Yesterday, Ian called from his car to say, “Mom, I just passed a guy in a motorized wheelchair with a ships prow complete with a woman’s bust on the front, and a Jolly-Roger flying off the back. He had a great big smile on his face and he was just soaring down the sidewalk.” Now that’s something you don’t see everyday!

Being a creature of habit has its benefits. I wake up at approximately the same time everyday without an alarm clock. I go to bed about the same time, and eat meals at expected hours. I live a predictable life that some would call humdrum. I don’t volunteer for every good and worthy cause, or work part-time at the library. It would be easy to sit in front of the television and eat bonbons all day. And that would be a shame. I don’t have to be party hardy or donate all my time to charity to be engaged with life—I can simply pay attention to what is right before my eyes. I can really see the nice-looking young woman with the blonde ponytail, who’s carefully choosing flowers to plant in her yard—pink and purple begonias with silky leaves. I can look the cashier in the eye when I check out at the grocery store. I can notice the new garden plot being dug in the back yard next door. I can enjoy listening to my neighbor’s young child sing all the songs he’s learned at nursery school to no one in particular. Paying attention, being present in the moment, gives each day context and particularity. It makes a predictable life rich with the unexpected. Today, go outside and enjoy this beautiful, early spring; look with you eyes, and listen with your ears and appreciate life’s surprising grace.

In the spirit,
Jane