The Gift of Nothing
Last night, I was supposed to go to a school meeting and also to an anniversary celebration for a friend’s business (seven years) and to see a friend play music down the street, and walk two blocks to watch two local songwriters sing their music and instead I stayed home, alone.
To the overstimulated, I say withdraw and rest.
Since Tin has been watching The Adventures of Tin Tin at Tatjana’s and since I let him watch Cars the other day here, he has been overstimulated by the violent and rapid images of these videos and it has affected his playing and his imagination. So we both agreed to stop allowing this into his life – we are the gatekeepers and therefore can control what he sees. We both agreed Professor Balthazar has much more to offer a child than either of these videos.
A friend sent me a link to a YouTube video about a man who has spent his life observing through a camera life’s subtleties and he’s composed a video about it – it’s his gratitude journal – about how every day is a gift to us and if we noticed it we will have received that gift. He said:
When people see my images, a lot of times they’ll say, “Oh my God.” Have you ever wondered what that meant? The “oh” means it caught your attention, makes you present, makes you mindful. The “my” means it connects with something deep inside your soul. It creates a gateway for your inner voice to rise up and be heard. And “God”? God is that personal journey we all want to be on, to be inspired, to feel like we’re connected to a universe that celebrates life.
So today, when there is a lot of ways that you might stimulate yourself and overstimulate yourself, try instead to do nothing but notice and be grateful for the gift of this day.
Love, R