It can be so easy to take life too seriously right now. The hottest June followed by the hottest July, extreme fire pollution. A consulting job taking a hard look at what’s left of the textile industry in the U.S. and trying to figure out what can be done to revive it in West Virginia. None of these is going to be solved overnight. Indeed this is the slow sort of lifetime work that we’ve committed to. Yet the risks of being weighed down by our felt reality with these challenges and not being able to move freely are acute. And yet I find myself knowing somewhere in my heart that we need to pursue life with a paradoxical lightness if we want to make something of our days.
I am fairly certain my mom would have accused me of taking it all too seriously. At some point – the summer before she passed on she gave me the below bookmark. This laminated bookmark seemed to embody her philosophy for life.
And it is such a good reminder right now – to find the love and joy and vibrancy in life no matter how intense the obstacles on our life stage appear to be. We can somehow take them seriously and embrace and love life at the same time. We can take them seriously without being weighed down by them. As I write this I only have a vague grasp on how to accomplish this – but I know it is important and worth practicing.
For me these days, music and badly singing along to it has worked wonders. In the kitchen, in the car, at the sewing machine. It injects new energy into the moment or illuminates a feeling rumbling around in us. Time at the river with the dogs – who were losing their mind with excitement and literally playing until they were limping around – that was another good one.
Bring that vibrancy and love for life to your day today. Flap your arms around. Move and make noise. Pass it along at the grocery store, the coffee shop, the gas station.
Any tips and tricks you want to share on this topic? I’m all ears!
Go, fight, win.
Reid