Living life doesn’t have to be a big fanfare all the time. I do it sitting on the bus on my way to work.
Those sleeping are doing it. They are regenerating, body cells, they are resting their minds.
There’s times when I think my life is boring or hectic, or stressful or just plain too much. And it is. But still, I am doing life.
Life, when my mind is so muddled, I can’t think straight. When it’s crystal clear and I instinctively know the right action to take, the right choice to make.
When I’m longing for my grandkids and a photo glimpsed reminds me of dancing in the living room, trampoline jumping, paint bottles standing at attention across the back table and small hands holding the brush, colours spread across the canvas.
When I visit, or they visit, and we sit snuggled on the couch together. When we’re out exploring nooks and crannies and finding rocks and feathers for our collections. When they share a secret or an interesting fact they’ve learnt . This is life.
When I get to spend time with my sons and while they are now grown men, I remember the small boys they used to be. The adventures we had, real and imaginary. The walks we would take, hand in hand, naming the plants, spying small insects and wriggling worms. Picking flowers, usually flowering weeds that sat in water on the windowsill or got squashed between the pages of a book. A soon to be dried treasure adorning a page.
I miss those small boys. I miss them thinking I knew everything, I miss the feeling of their young hands held in mine and the smiles and look of love that shone from their eyes.
So much has changed since then. Social media has taken the world by storm and my grandchildren’s attention along with it. Now instead of a look of love, there is a sidewise glance of annoyance as they long to get back to their screens.
If I am lucky, there will be an enthralled few hours of creativity. Where a simple thought turns into an imaginative journey with pen, paper, cardboard and colour. With sticky tape, glue and scissors the tools of the trade. And, the happiness that emanates, if only it could be bottled.
Instead, it lives in me. My heart singing with the remembrance of it. A warmth that spreads to my mind’s eye and turns up the corners of my mouth.
Lives are lived. Some in peace, surrounded by harmony, others in horrific surrounds where sirens whine and bombs are dropped. Where hunger takes hold and every breath is a battle in itself.
I can’t imagine a life like that. The sights we see now on our screens, such every day occurences that we barely blink at the images. Hardly pause ‘our lives’ to consider the atrocities our fellow man inflicts. In a way, it has become acceptable. And it isn’t! It is far far from acceptable.
Thoughts and prayers are good for sure. But action speaks louder than words. In your part of the world, a small gesture could mean the world. A kind word, a smile, a helping hand. Someone surrounded by a hectic life may cherish a quiet moment of peace. Someone without companionship may be enlivened by a visit, the sharing of time.
Today look beyond your life, be that person who makes someone else’s life just a little bit better. Give a compliment, look in the eyes of a passer-by and smile. You never know, your smile could be the beginning of a domino effect.
As your days progress, go forward with truth and compassion. And remember, you ‘are’ doing it. You ‘are’ living life. Live it well.
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