Celestial Reasonings

Today was a perfectly, gloriously average day.   I began the adventure at work by 6am.  It was, you know...average (or whatever that is lately).  I smiled, did my best, talked with customers, and felt rather nonplussed about it all.  Afterwards, I went to the gym and had a typical workout.  Then I grabbed some dinner, came home, did my laundry, talked with a couple of friends, and watched the sunset.  During all of this inaction, I felt fairly calm and centered, and (somewhat surprisingly) never bored.  Nothing much seemed to be happening.  It was just another day in the life.  And now, here I am, writing about all of this inactivity.  So far, so average.


There was, however, one strong undercurrent to all of the non-excitement of today.  I kept recalling the talk given this past weekend at a meditation sitting I attended.  Greg, the regular speaker at these gatherings, was commenting about life and death.  He made several good points by my estimation, but one phrase really stood out to me.  He advised that we must make the most of who we are during this lifetime, while we have the chance, or it would be a celestial waste.  Celestial waste?   It sounded extreme at first, but I quickly agreed with him in my mind.  In retrospect, I liked this stance so much, he probably had me at 'celestial'. 

This got me thinking.  You know, sometimes my life feels like it is in complete limbo land.  But limbo land, or that feeling of intertia, is sometimes very necessary.  Today I felt the strong urge to just sit back, relax and let life play out.   For some reason, the pace of the day seemed to be perfect.  Not too fast, not too slow.  It just meandered along without much interference, at least from me.  The breezes outside were blowing gently, and the overall weather was a wonderful middle-of-the-road mixed bag of sun, clouds, and perfect pleasantness.  Heck, my neighborhood even seems quieter than normal as I type this.  There is a stillness in the air, so much so that the usual din of car noise seems to be muted on this fair evening. 

We live in such a go-go culture.  I know I am not alone when I say that it is far too easy to get swept up in all of the distractions that the world offers.   I guess this is why it is such a revelation to simply watch a day unfold and not really feel the urge to resist, or better yet, hit the accelerator. 

I decided that this is simply another step towards making the most of who I am during this lifetime.  Learning to accept things as they are does not mean that I am falling asleep at the wheel, or even worse, that I am simply trudging my way through life without inspiration.  Hardly.  I think I am just starting to really embrace the quiet.  Taking a minute to breathe, even during the mundane routine of some days, has to be considered a small victory.  It's not often that we get to feel like life isn't racing out of control, at a speed that hardly gives us time to blink.  

I had an exchange at work today that really put this all in perspective.  One of my co-workers remarked this afternoon that I seemed to be happy.  I nodded in agreement, and my knee-jerk reaction was to say this:

"Why not?"

Precisely.

If I am to make the most of who I am in this lifetime, every day must count.   Even (and perhaps especially) those days where nothing much appears to be happening. 

I enjoyed today in all its glorious average-ness.  Celestial crisis averted, at least for now.