More from Meghan

Front and center

07NOV

Last week I saw a YouTube video that made me feel really good, and I emailed it to my fabulous aunt in California because she likes to post that kind of thing on her blog.  I got her response this morning.

“WOW.  How great is life?”

It’s been on my mind for the last couple of hours, because really, when you take a second to think about it, how great IS life?  Everybody has their problems and concerns and things they lie awake worrying about, and sure, there are days when you just want to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers for a while, preferably while consuming an entire package of Double Stuf Oreos.  But while I can’t speak for anyone else, personally, when I stop and take a good objective look, my life is pretty great.  There are things I want that I don’t have, but I think almost everybody can say that; in the end, I have very little to complain about.  Why is it so easy to forget that?  It’s so easy to take things for granted and be dragged down into negativity and wind up in a bad mood before you’ve even finished your morning coffee.  It’s so easy to be hard and cynical and roll your eyes about things instead of daring to be softly optimistic.  When was the last time you stopped and took a breath and allowed something to amaze you?  I don’t know about you, but I’m amazed in that negative, wounded, “Wow, people are really freaking awful sometimes” kind of way on a regular basis.  But what about the other kind of amazement?  The goosebumpy “Whoa, I need to stop and marvel at this for a minute” kind?  The kind that makes you say, “Wow.  How great is life?”  It’s the kind of thing that happens so often when we’re kids, but as we grow up, we forget.  I’ve been working on laying down my cynicism and sarcasm and eye-rolling and re-learning how to let things amaze me again, and it feels like fresh air after years of staleness.   It’s not every day that something completely blows your mind, but that’s not necessarily what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about things that could easily fly past you if you’re not open to noticing them – small things like discovering a new song that speaks to you, or a wonderful meal, or a really great kiss that, if you’re paying attention, are just enough to make you stop and smile and fall a little more in love with the world.  Allowing myself to have that (every day, if I’m lucky) makes it so much easier to put problems and annoyances into proper perspective.  There’s a place for those things in a person’s life, but it’s not front and center, at least not all the time.  There are quietly amazing people and things all around, and I’m learning let those be front-and-center as often as I can.  It makes me smile more, and be kinder, and feel more grateful. It makes me love my life.

“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much — my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst.  And then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain, and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life…”
– American Beauty

My darling niece, Meghan, can be reached at:

  http://theupstairswindow.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/front-and-center/