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Sometimes my Best Year Ever moments show up as appreciation for something else. 🙂
When I saw this straight like of tire tracks in the soot that was the aftermath of our local prairie burn, I was seized with an appreciation of how crooked life is!
A straight path may be the most efficient way to get somewhere, but think of all the great moments and adventures we would miss without the fanciful twists and turns of our lives.
What twists and turns are you celebrating?
After the muted tones of the long winter, I’m delighting in every bit of color, as tiny as it may be.
This new leaf, pushing its way up through the gravel, was no larger than my thumbnail.
It caught my attention because it was boldly out there, so far ahead in its growth than everything around it. And, because it looked like a butterfly.
The butterflies, of course, would be a few more weeks arriving, but this reminder of the triumph of new life enchanted me, just as the wonder and awe of a butterfly might.
What new life are you noticing?
Before you all write to me in protest of the worms, they aren’t worms. 🙂
Although they certainly might be mistaken for worms.
The trickster in me loved this view of the pond surface, just after the neighboring trees dropped all of their blossoms, and scattered their pollen. Because it looked like worms, but also because of the fascinating shapes and color.
This was a very ephemeral moment. By afternoon, the blossoms had disbursed, and this picture was gone. To me, this is what the Best Year Ever is about. Paying attention to the moments that catch my eye, and savoring them.
What are the moments that you are paying attention to?
This daffodil shined its light, in all its glory, for a couple of weeks, and I appreciated it for the whole time it was blooming.
Something about its fullness, color, and grace, took my breath away every time it caught my eye.
To me, this is evidence that the best of life really is in fully appreciating the beauty of the moments. It could be the light in someone’s eyes, the daffodil bloom, or the changing tapestry of the sky.
What is lighting up your life?
This is another photo from a few weeks ago, before our world greened up.
I am enchanted with glass in almost every form. I placed this glass globe in the bed of leaves last fall, never guessing that at the end of winter, when things seemed to be starkest, it would be the only spot of color around.
How I appreciated its color; what a delight it was to gaze at it, knowing that soon it would be joined by all the new greens and blues of Springtime.
What special beauty have you seen today?
 This photo now looks stark, compared to the green world that is present today, but at the time, it was an extraordinary view into depth and color. The reflection was the only colorful thing around!
And, at the time, I was so struck by the mystery of the color being so much stronger in the reflection than in the view that was being reflected. It was like the reflection saw something much deeper in the world than my eyes could see.
These are the moments and everyday miracles that catch my attention when I am committed to being present to my world.
On our morning walk, this beautiful reflection caught my eye.
What I noticed was that the reflection was far more colorful than the landscape that it was reflecting.
How does that work?
Magic, everywhere. Best Year Ever.
It is ironic to me that one of the very first signs of new life in spring is one of the most colorful things that I see during the whole year.
And that one of the most fragile-looking is actually one of the strongest, pushing its way up through semi-frozen ground, in the time of year where snow and ice can still come at any moment.
Nature gifts me with some of the most powerful examples of perseverance, inevitability, and endurance that I have in my life, and these blossoms certainly represent those qualities for me.
Today is a celebration of new life, hardy and whole.
It’s been a long and brutal winter for us here in Northern Illinois.
What I love about Winter is that it is a time of incubation. Things are doing the preparation that they need in order to grow in the Spring, and this is the opportunity for us humans also, in Winter.
However, there comes a time when the energy begins to move again, like it wants to move, grow, and express. It is done with incubating. We are all feeling a bit of that impulse here now.
So it is with joy and celebration that I discovered these snowbells, a true harbinger of Spring. They are the leading edge of momentum, and I am thrilled to see them leading the charge.
When I look at them, I feel all the hope that comes with the edge of momentum.
I love this quote by Vincent van Gogh.
To do something in love, for me, means that I must slow down from my normal pace and feel my love for what I am doing. I consciously come into the presence of love. My heart often has a different rhythm than my doing self.
This is why I appreciate van Gogh’s quote so much. It reminds me to come into the presence of love.
When I come into the presence of love, I do things well, and with love.
And then I see things differently. I catch other people’s love, because I’m tuned into love.
