The Mind Monocle

Earlier today, I was walking down a familiar road. A sidewalk where I often
cross paths with families and professionals with their dogs and coffee cups. But today, about a block away, two gentlemen walked with matching fedoras, cloud-coloured hair and iced lattes. Their laughs carried toward me and awoke me from my own little world. The brief, polite shuffle led to an exchange of smiles and pleasantries.

It’s funny. Life gets caught up in the race. It’s a never-ending marathon of doing more, feeling like you’re not doing enough, trying to earn more, pushing yourself to “be better,” and attempting to paddle your way to the next level, the next course.

When thinking about happiness, we often feel pulled to picture something outside our current reality. A reality that comes from shows, television or our most recent holiday, where rose-coloured glasses of light and fun feel more fulfilling than our regular, mundane, normal life. The need to escape can be enthralling but glamorized.

Happiness is a concept that, in the absence of it, can lead to resentment of ourselves and the world around us.

Before crossing paths with these two individuals, I was wrapped up in a to-do list of thoughts that took me away from the summer breeze, the barks of the Dalmatian across the street and the chuckles of the young people blaring TOP 40 stereo music a block away.

Time keeps moving. We do too. And feeling lost is understandable when we cannot see the road before us. The lack of lustre present can make our need to find new paths feel crucial and daunting. Daily joys may slip our attention and feel insignificant.

What if we challenged ourselves to make the “mundane” special? Simple sidewalk connections can remind us we all are spiralling within complex paths, and something about today is beautiful, meaningful or extraordinary.

ILLENIUM and Jon Bellion’s song, “Good Things Fall Apart,” emulates this desire and conflict between striving and surviving with everyday struggles and doubts.

Standing still, looking up

Photograph  © All Rights reserved @rachaelaf18

Trying to stay present,

R.A.F.