This morning when I woke up I asked myself,
“What do I really need to pay the most attention today?”
This is a really good question, but I did not take my own counsel. My natural inclination is to get pretty intense. Example: Over coffee this morning my husband and my daughters & I spent time reading about the 1973 Wounded Knee FBI standoff on The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It was interesting and my memory was jogged. My girls wanted to know what I remembered about the story from when I was 8 years old. We all wanted to know more about Leonard Peltier.
However, after they left for school, I thought, “WOW, we need way more kitten videos and way less dense discussion”.
There’s something about this day and age that I can’t quite put my finger on—a heaviness that’s way too pervasive in our culture. Yes, lots of issues demand our attention…but, many, many don’t and I know that I’m wasting a lot of energy even thinking about them. I want to keep a couple of images in my head for when I start getting too intense.
We are just a cog in the machine. I’m only a microscopic portion of what makes the world hum. Too often I supersize my role—thinking it’s much greater than it actually is…you’re just a cog, Lisa, simply just a cog.
I’m simply a blade of grass in a field. I’m not the field. I’m a blade. Too me this is actually quite liberating. Now, if I can remind myself of these images when I start supersizing my place in the world, I’ll really have stumbled onto something.
Here’s a few kitten videos if you find yourself getting way too intense today. Enjoy!
Finding the balance here is really difficult. Good luck!
Really insightful Lisa. However you are not merely a blade of grass in the vast field. You, like all of us, are a piece in the grand jigsaw puzzle that is our picture of humanity.
Thinking and understanding the problems of the world, can be liberating also. It can give us great strength in our considerations of place and time.
I guess maintaining a balance which sees us being slightly removed from the problems, may give us further perspective.
A refreshing view on life as always Lisa. Thankyou B.
Thank you for your perspective. I can get a little bogged down with empathy sometimes in an unhealthy way. Keeping an eye on how and when things need my attention has been better for me and my family. It isn’t easy. There’s so much pain and need everywhere-it’s too easy to succumb to sorrow. It feels like it uniquely takes some courage to spread some happiness however we can do it. I like what you said about understanding the problems of the world which is often the necessary perspective about whatever we are toiling over. I appreciate your insight.