Here you are,
Alive,
Breathing,
Making this choice to inhale deeply and with intention,
To exhale and let it all go.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Welcome to a hit of hope,
And this one's a tiny bit salty.
At the end of an email,
A friend recently wrote to me,
May your life always be interesting.
I wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse,
Because there are times when the ordinary is all you long for,
That sense of you know what is coming next,
That sense of feeling settled,
Stable,
Sure of your place in the world and how things will go.
I'll admit it,
A big part of me wants that,
As do so many I've talked to recently.
That's why they keep saying,
I want to know when things are going to get back to normal.
We long for the ordinary,
The regular,
The usual,
Until that's all we get.
And then we might strain against it.
I know I did when my life was ordinary,
And then my life got interesting and all I wanted was for things to go back to normal.
So it's a weird thing.
It's easy to hate the ordinary when you feel trapped by it,
But it's easy to long for the ordinary when life is anything but.
It's another case of wanting what you don't have.
May your life always be interesting,
My friend said.
It could be a perfect mantra.
Why?
Because it sits in the liminal space,
The space of opportunity,
The space of being vulnerable and open,
Ready and expectant.
I know that sounds like blissed out Zen claptrap,
But it's not.
May your life always be interesting gives you,
Yes,
You agency.
It gives you the power to make life interesting.
But Betsy,
You might protest,
All of this stuff happens to me that I don't want.
I have no agency.
Well,
Put little grasshopper.
Yes,
All of this stuff,
Some of what we might call shit and justifiably so,
Some of this shit happens to us and it feels as if we don't have any power or agency at all.
But you,
Yes,
You always have the power to see what is happening as interesting,
Which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as that which is adapted to excite.
Everything is that which has qualities,
Which rouse curiosity,
Engage attention or appeal to the emotions.
You only get this one life,
This one life.
And if it is ordinary,
Let that rouse your curiosity and engage your attention.
Let the sidewalk,
The tree,
The birds,
The smell of the coffee,
The taste of grandma's cake,
Let that engage your attention.
You only get this one moment,
This one life.
And if it is out of your control,
If it is full of grief and pain,
Uncertainty and frustration,
Sit with it.
Pay attention to it all.
Be in it.
Explore the hell out of it so that you know you're interesting.
Because you are interesting.
You are amazing.
You are a wonder and the world is better because you are in it.
So whether life is ordinary or out of your control,
Sit,
Breathe,
Explore with curiosity.
Because then you will live and know your life is always interesting.
Namaste.
