"In summer, the song sings itself."
- William Carlos William
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| Arbroath harbour, Scotland, this summer. You can bet there's some nice "changes" happening behind the scaffolding. |
The older I get (as in “circuits around the sun”, not wrinkles!), the more it becomes apparent that our lives need to be continually “fine tuned”. As with a musical instrument or paddling or running form, lifestyles and life-practices benefit from regular “tweaking”. Or yeah, sometimes, a major reno! That, of course, invites change - and it shouldn’t worry us. As I see it, change means that our lives are a work in progress – rather than a work in stasis or even decline. And heck, I’d rather be getting progressively lost, going in the wrong direction, than sitting around going in no direction at all!
I like change and would even go so far as to say that it is, for me, a source of happiness. Having said that, I do honestly feel badly when my need for change drives others crazy. J
And it’s not to say that all change is pleasurable. When a good friend moves to the other side of the country or when your body reminds you that it takes waaaay longer to recover from that so-called-easy trail run than it used to – well, that doesn’t feel good. On the other hand, a friend moving to the East coast provides a great reason to plan some exploring time on the other side of the country. Sore muscles from running are the body’s way to suggest a little moderation or maybe getting a little more biking or paddling in. It’s a fact that cross-training keeps us moving. One door closes slightly for awhile, another one opens – it’s that cosmic balance.
Experiencing ourselves growing and evolving and nurturing fresh perspectives, as we journey through life, should be an exciting proposition. I think I have always been a “happy” person – at twenty, at forty, at sixty-one. (Yikes.) But, I'm not the same person. Thankfully! There’s been lots of change, and lots of “phases”. Not all change was smooth and some phases were downright dumb. (Like the year in university I elected to forgo academics for a shot at a role in an rock musical. Man, what a disaster, but it was fun! It was back to the books the following year.) In retrospect, however, it was always exciting - perhaps in the same way as when you find yourself in your kayak in conditions that are just a little “sketchier” than you had planned. Normally, if we keep our cool, we rise to the occasion. And later, when we reflect on the day (safe and dry back home) we get that nice feeling – the warm afterglow that comes with knowing that we invited the unexpected, and that we dealt with change, in the form of a stiffer challenge than we had anticipated.
This month, we decided to change a few things around the house and adjust where we invested time – a “commodity”, after all, that is beyond value! We decided to have our TV cable service disconnected. It's not that we have ever watched a lot of TV nor is it a judgment on those who do. It was simply a sense that we needed to do things differently. OK, I’d better be honest. I did actually get a bit of a shock when I found myself (mindlessly) enjoying a reality show about folks who make a living bidding on the left-over contents of deserted storage units. Huh? It may be big drama for them but how the heck could it be entertaining for me to be watching it!? I didn’t want to know the answer to that question.
Anyway, anything I need to know about current events can be found on the web. The TV still works for the occasional movie - so we “chopped” the cable.
Bottom line: That little change in the way we do things around our place felt good – really good.
Change - it sings a sweet song.
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