What Will You Learn Today?
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Sunset off the dock #NoFilter
The other day was a normal, uneventful day, which is why it stood out when 3 seemingly normal things hit me:
Downtown Damariscotta ℅ marinas.com
Cherish the availability of street parking in Damariscotta while ya can! I needed to pick up a book at the library and voila - a spot was wide open in front of the bookstore and cafe! That won’t be the case for a week from now until September! Little things can bring joy and glee into one’s day - like a parking space! It may seem trivial, but it filled my entire day with a sense of accomplishment (almost like when I lived in NYC and got a parking space 😊).
Don’t drive to Rachmanioff’s Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor. There is a reason I listen to news and podcasts and not music in the car. Every molecule in my body gets absorbed into the music (especially Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff) and you shouldn’t do “air piano” and drive to the tempo! Since I was little, I can’t listen to classical music, an opera, without it being a whole-body experience - not idea for Rt 1 in Maine! The power of art to bring us alive and make us whole is strong and necessary - and incorporates our entire self.
Swimming Upstream, as a metaphor, isn’t fully appreciated til you watch fish do it. Our fellow village of Bristol Mills built a fish ladder to make it easier for the alewives (an important bait and ecosystem fish) to make their long arduous journey from the ocean to the Pemaquid River up to Pemaquid Lake or Biscay Pond to spawn. It’s a gorgeous fish ladder surrounded by nature - by water, trees, birds, fish, sounds - all the flora and fauna and fascination. Nature never ceases to teach us, if we’re willing to see and listen.
So, what 1 or 2 things can you learn today - from the mundane things, meetings, errands, glances out the window, things you drive by every single day? And the learning doesn’t have to be deep, complex, life-changing - just a new thing or new way of perceiving. Give it a try!
