Don’t Blink, Don’t Label!

This morning, the air is cool with a slight breeze, the sun is rising, the birds are singing, and the sky is magical. Actually, the entire scene is picturesque and phenomenal. It is the magical sky, however, that caught my attention.

Sitting on my front porch, I decided to write down every word that could be used to describe the vision I was witnessing: sky, clouds, white, grey, blue, feathers, tendrils, shimmering, sea, floating, gorgeous, artistic, swirling, expansive.

Then I looked away for a short time and when my eyes returned to the scene, it was totally different! Now words like changing, washing out, soft, cotton, bumpy seemed more appropriate.

Don’t blink – you’ll miss something! Add to that, don’t label, you’ll miss so much. Oh the days that I have looked up and saw only sky and clouds. As a child, I saw bunnies and dragons, pillows and castles in the sky! And I dared not blink because I might lose sight of my imaginary playmates.

Now? Too often I let the labels – sky and cloud – determine what I see. “Cloud” might mean rain. Rain means I cannot ride my scooter (i.e. “bad”).

What about you? What magic is life offering that you miss out on because:

• you’ve simplified the view with labels?
• you “blinked”, looked away, consumed with the current task?
• you decided you knew it all already so you didn’t pause to look anew and be curious?

If you are too young to have heard the song Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell, or if you haven’t read the lyrics in a few decades, please get curious right now! The song came from my memory banks as I was observing the clouds this morning. What I found when I Google’d to find the lyrics, was such depth of awareness – WOW!

What does this song open up in you today?