Maybe some day somebody will write a handbook called "Mary Oliver's Five Amazing Secrets of Paying Attention!" No worries if nobody ever does--reading her poems is instructive and inspiring in a whole lot more than five ways.
Consider "Mindful":
Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
~ Mary Oliver ~
This is what we born for too, isn't it--to look, to listen, to lose ourselves inside this soft world--to instruct ourselves over and over in joy? Not just pleasure, but joy?
How can we help but grow wise with such teachings as these? And, of course, not all teachings, not all the classes, are about nature. Though all are about Life.
Worries and judgments and posturing are electives in the School of Delight. Dropping them to make time to notice and savor what's in front of us is the core curriculum.
Today's homework: Notice, turn aside to, and stay with at least ONE thing--animal, mineral, or vegetable--that more or less kills you with delight.
