Monday Mindfulness Minute: Appreciating The extra Ordinary Is Extraordinary

"The great lessons from the true mystics, from the Zen monks, is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's back yard... To be looking everywhere for miracles is a sure sign of ignorance that everything is miraculous." Abraham Maslow (as cited in Pronoia p. 207)

Breathing

Having enough food to eat

Getting clean water from the fountain or the refrigerator

Having a roof over our heads at home and work

Hanging out with friends

Walking the dog

Reading a book

I don't think any of us would necessarily define these items as extraordinary. How often do we see pictures or videos of these posted on social media? Hardly ever. (Unless of course we are hanging out with friends on a tropical island, eating a fancy meal at the hot new restaurant in town, or showing off our fancy new fridge that keeps water at a glacier level of coldness)

It seems that in our panic for greatness and growth, we are steadily overlooking the ordinary happenings which may be the only true calories that leave us fulfilled, alive, and ok.

I fall into this trap all the time - believing the mind that tells me what I'm doing is not enough and too ordinary. Feeling this existential crisis of not good-enough-ness and ordinariness seems to correlate to when I overlook and forget all of the seemingly ordinary things I have to be grateful for right now.

We are taught repeatedly to be extraordinary, to do extra, get extra, be extra, and that if we accomplish these we will receive the ultimate gift: aliveness. But what if the extraordinary feeling of being alive on earth right now can only be accessed by focusing on the extra ordinary life that surrounds us daily?

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse

Let's commit this week to being extraordinary by focusing on the extra ordinary around us.