206 Words of This and That
My grandfather, a World War II veteran, used to get ornery when people would wax nostalgic about the good old days. A man of warmth and kindness, he would noticeably bristle at those comments. “The good old days are now!” he would exhort, pointing his finger down to indicate the present moment. This is a man who spent 4 years fighting in Europe, including being a part of D-Day. The end of the year always has me reckoning with the passage of days, of time. I reflect a bit sadly on my once-young children, who are now teenagers. I wonder how time has passed so quickly. I judge myself to determine if I was as present in each moment of their youth as I could have been. Then I think of one of my favorite James Taylor songs, Secret O’ Life, which always seems to have the voice of my grandfather embedded in it. “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. … Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill, But since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride, Isn’t it a lovely ride? Try not to try too hard, it’s just a lovely ride.”
Reminder from the soul of truth: It’s very challenging to enjoy the passage of time; To love how it passes smoothly along, day after day, to cherish how we age, to delight in what we don’t do, and what we do. But this is the truest sentiment about time and life I have ever found.
Takeaway: Enjoying the passage of time, in turn, gives the gift of enduring presence.
Inspiring morsel
We have all become addicted to the computers we hold in our hands. Responding to the visual/neurologically alluring and psychological manipulation they present, we go back to them, time and again, for more dopamine hits, to assuage our wonder. We wonder what people are doing, we wonder how we compare, we wonder where and when the next disaster is unfolding. What if, instead, we applied that wonder to the world around us, the world so available, so full of color and people and ideas? Instead of looking down into our screens with intensity, what if we looked to our family, our neighborhood, nature all around us with that sense of profound wonder? What would we find? How would it soulfully satiate us? Something Mark Nepo said in an interview on The Good Life Project made me think of this. It’s more than worth a listen.
From my bookshelves
I love rebels. I consider Pope Francis a rebel. (If you haven’t watched The Two Popes, I recommend it. Incredible acting, an intriguing story and a well-constructed film.) I’ve been thumbing my way through Pope Francis’ Happiness in This Life since I got it in 2017 (books like these I pick up when they sing to me and put down when I need to rest from their intensity). In an April 2014 address on the topic of good lives, he said, “The secret to a good life is to love and to surrender to love. By doing this, we find the strength to ‘sacrifice ourselves with joy,’ and so the most difficult task becomes a source of great joy.”
If this Thought Cookie spoke to you in any way, please share it with a friend or someone you admire. I’d be so grateful.
The next Thought Cookie will find its way to you in a new year, on Jan. 12.