The power of new angles to uncover your astonishment for daily life

 

Another quiet, slow, rather minimally productive (by material world standards, but never by divine realm standards) Sunday had evaporated. I had loaded and started my idiotic (for those who followed my kitchen tribulations in former posts) dishwasher (guess what... it is finally draining ! I just have to press ''cancel'' twice for a 2-min drainage, which does nothing the first time but does work if I try again hours later). The load of laundry was waiting for its turn in the machine. My herbal tea had been enjoyed. I was filled with the velvety satisfaction from giving back to life: I had replenished the hummingbird feeder as an expression of gratitude for nature. I was about to call it a day, without even having found the inspiration to write my weekly blog, when the silhouette of a heart on the wall caught my attention. I had been struck by the simple beauty of certain corners of my house I had been looking at from angles or corners of the room where I was not typically standing in any given day, for instance allowing me to zoom in, a few days ago, on a section of the dining room near the entrance that had a fabulous light while the various messes in other sections of that big space were not in plain view.

I am also learning to use different angles, the metaphorical ones, to reframe certain annoyances in life. On a surface level, I had wasted one hour driving recently. But in reality, I had found some ideas for a paper and the inspiration kept flowing while I was behind the wheel, thoughts that would not have occurred in a different setting, with more distractions or ''productive'', efficient pursuits. As it turns out, I realized that everything in life can be made into a meditation, therefore the frustrating unexpected, the apparent waste of time can in fact be productive on some level. When something trivial or seemingly useless incident occurs, it has the potential to open up your mind and possibilities in life-changing ways. Therefore I made the resolution to give equal importance to any unexpected situation, or the absence of what was supposed to happen, as if it were planned or gave the predicted outcome, even when it hadn't: the canceled game, the postponed date.

I decided to call it the reframing method. Even if no creative inspiration becomes the unintended consequence of what didn't take place, we can still say we did some mileage in a life of contemplation or meditation. And that is very good news for our brain and whole being that need healing.

The trivial had not gotten my attention as much as the big tragedies that crack us open and that we try to find the positive about. But now I can see in them the potential to be even more mindful by practicing the reframing skill with frustrations that are manageable. And once we can approach everything with fresh eyes automatically, once it has become second nature, it is easier to approach the bigger challenges with an open mind and maintain a positive attitude.

You feel like you are having a bad day ? Just move around and reposition yourself so you can catch glimpse at this beautiful life from a totally new angle.