I'm Finding the Stars
Today I feel like I’m seeing life for the first time. I know it’s been there all along, but sometimes it feels like there’s been a secret and I didn’t quite catch on until later. Like finding mischief in your backyard. At a glance it looks like the backyard is the same as yesterday, but it isn’t. There’s something more. It’s like you close your eyes and everything is glowing and dancing with the strength of a campfire that warms your cheeks and melts marshmallows for s'mores and stories.
It’s like when you laugh really hard for the first time in months. There’s something about that burst of energy that makes you realize laughter is the greatest kind of energy. Real, big laughter makes me feel like I’ll never run out of life. It really is the best medicine. It helps me discover the endless possibility of healing and mending by freeing my thoughts to laugh long and deeply, to see things differently. It means you’re looking beyond the obvious. Even in a stressful situation, if you can laugh, it’s like punching all the negativity in the face and leaving a black eye for the mundane. You can recover from anything and uncover everything.
I’ve been trying to get out of my routine as much as I need to because when I do, something happens. It doesn’t have to make sense at first, but there’s been something lately that has brought some extraordinary encounters and helped me look up and see the stars. It doesn’t matter if it’s night or day, I’m finding the stars.
The other day I was walking along and saw a leaf tumble across my path and it made me stop. It felt playful in its sporadic bursts and tumblings. All of a sudden a quiet moment alone became a refreshing reprieve in my day. It was unexpected, yet inspiring. It felt like joy and life-sustenance. Like somehow I needed this moment even though I could have never planned for it. I was in my own world of art and possibility. Like finding a fresh blueberry in a field after a long cold winter. A single blueberry around frosty leaves and melting ice.
I think that somehow there is an art in noticing the little things, finding amusement in what seems normal and laughing consistently throughout a day. There’s a beauty in seeing things through a new perspective and pausing long enough to embrace that something new. There’s a strength when you can find humor in a situation even if it doesn’t quite call for it. Just like art, you have to find it, discover it and call it out for what it is. You have to notice it, give it wings and most affectionately name it something abstract and maybe even a little daunting.
