NOTICING

Theme for March: Vastness

March 12, 2021

This morning, as I was reading, I noticed that I was stroking the side of my face with my fingers, and, strangely enough, it occurred to me that I was doing it with a certain kind of excellence. I was performing that routine and unremarkable task about as well as it could be done. I sighed and stared out the window for a few seconds, and it seemed like those tasks, too, were done with distinction. I couldn’t have sighed and stared any better. Then, as I looked at a small tree outside, I noticed that its small branches were bending in a breeze, and yes, I think they were bending about as perfectly as branches can bend. Putting down my book, I wondered if I could spend the rest of the day just noticing how flawlessly the countless tasks around me are done. Now, hours later, I’m typing on my computer’s keyboard, and my fingers are doing it in a first-class way. Yes, they make mistakes now and then, but even the mistakes are made with matchless precision. I would call them perfect mistakes – errors done with distinction. And just now, I noticed some dust resting on the table beside me – resting, I guess, in precisely the way dust must rest. 

WHAT HE NOTICED
(about Andy H., 70, Blessings, CT, USA)
03/12/21)

One morning 
he saw a candle shining 
in a silent heart. 
He was walking on Summer Street 
when he noticed the silence- 
trees standing still, 
cars passing like sighs, 
houses seemingly asleep. 
Then he saw this woman 
wearing peacefulness like a cloak. 
She looked like the light of the world. 
The earth turned a little more slowly 
as he watched her walk into a house 
that looked like a cup 
holding light.