I love a scene from Pride & Prejudice where Elizabeth is invited to take a walk around a room she was sitting in to “gain a new perspective.” She didn’t sail the seven seas, she didn’t even leave the room she was in, but as they walked around the space, a new mindset was gained. Do you take time to discover new perspectives in places you live? Last night Les and I went to our back deck about 8:00 pm. The summer air was gone and replaced with the evening’s gentle breeze, the garden welcomed it with the first squash of summer. Our puppies played joyfully among each other. The time outside was a moment to remember.
How often do we completely choose ignore the life experiences about us? Les and I live in this home most days of the year, yet that is perhaps the tenth time we have taken an evening moment on the deck as the sun sets. We both love outdoors, we both love being on the deck with our family, yet somehow we often choose to ignore that we luxuriate in our own spaces just ten feet away.
Do you drink in the blessings of your life? It is so easy to stay too busy, keep too focused a mindset and miss the blessings of this moment. As I type there are birds singing, a chipmunk running across my window ledge outside and my son’s labrador puppy is just going nuts after a butterfly. All worth watching from my glass office, a fun start of the day.
Our perspectives so color our world. Beauty is such a fine gift from our creator. The ability to drink in beauty through seeing what is before us is a something we easily loose the ability to do if we do not allow it’s presence in our lives. I tend to see the world through rose colored glasses, look for the beauty in everything, but rarely do I stop my schedules to simply drink in the moments of magnificience. Each morning I walk outside to cut a few flowers from our garden, I love to have a fresh rose or lilly on my desk throughout the morning writing time. What do you like? For a friend of mine its fresh sharpened pencils in her favorite patterns, For my son it’s unfettered arrows in his room reminding him that hunting season is coming…for my friend, it’s the music of her choosing early in the morning while she works from her balcony.
How does your perspective change when you engage the activities and people who bring your joy to the surface? How often are you encouraging those moments in your life? What perspective do you need to let go of to engage this moment? Personally I think I am going to have a new alarm on my phone about 4 times a day, one that encourages my own stroll about my life to engage just how blessed and thankful I am.
