PAY ATTENTION: The first was taught to us when we were children, but we did not all master it as children. In fact, I believe that in adult life, paying attention is a different task altogether. This is not about paying attention to completing something for someone else. This is about paying attention to notice or to be aware of what catches our senses or causes us to pause. This is about paying attention to the invitation to live life. This is an invitation to a unique and grand privilege and adventure.
BE ASTONISHED: I used to think that not much astonished me. Then I realized it was because I did not pay very close attention. When I began to be curious about things around me and pay closer attention, my astonishment grew exponentially. I stopped to watch an ant colony busy at work. I learned about my Mom’s moonflowers that bloom every evening, but each bloom lives only one evening. I paid attention to the daily healing of incisions following my knee replacement. So many things became truly astonishing when I stopped to pay attention.
TELL ABOUT IT: HOLLY LEBOWITZ ROSSI said this about Mary Oliver, “In her view, life was always awe-inspiring, but it was not always beautiful or easy.” The amazing thing is that Mary Oliver kept telling us about her living in poetry. We might do our telling in story or conversation, blogging or through journaling, music, or invitation to others to journey along with us, but living is about telling and sharing what you are noticing when you are paying attention and being astonished.
Go and live well my friends, live with a boldness to discover what is around you and share what astonishes you. For in your telling, you will also provoke others to want to live. ❤️ trish
