Not Again

Photo: Asahel Curtis, courtesy of University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
Photo: Asahel Curtis, courtesy of University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections

It’s beautiful today. It’s crisp, the sun is shining, skies are blue, and the temperature is just right: neither melting, nor an ice box.

The spectacular mountains surrounding our city have been lightly dusted with fresh snow. I should be gliding down one of those peaks; instead, I’m looking at a screen: the same screen I spend most of my waking hours in front of.

Earlier in the week, I made casual plans to “play hooky,” and spend this day in the mountains. (I hadn’t anticipated how breathtaking it would be; I just wanted a little break from the grind.) Like so many other ideas we fail to act upon, though, this impulse was soon forgotten.

We complain about bad luck and a lack of opportunity, when we actually fail to see what’s right in front us. Meanwhile, instead of putting a small amount of effort into acting on our impulses, we retreat to the same old routine we’ve created for ourselves… and then complain about being bored.

Life offers us brilliant opportunities. Often, it even repeats itself, begging us to pause for a moment and take notice.

At other times, it is less forgiving, giving us just one chance to do something spectacular. These are fleeting instances. If we don’t show interest, they move along to someone else, never to be made available again.

Instead of lamenting what we didn’t “get,” we simply have to start paying attention.

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