“Mmmmmmmm…I can’t stop thinking about a Reuben sandwich!”, said the cashier at the supermarket as she was checking out my groceries.
“Oh really?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, “I’ve been craving one for a long time and I know just the place where I’m going to get it. A diner by my home serves the best ones, and after my shift, I am going there!”
The joy, smile, and warmth in her face as she spoke were contagious, and I was instantly transformed from someone who was rushing out of the store and onward to my next task to someone recognizing a bright light of beauty in the ordinary. It wasn’t so much what she said, but the radiating energy she expressed as she said it. She invited me to see a part of herself, to share in her happiness and excitement, me…someone she had never met. By choosing to listen attentively and experience her story as if it were my own, I accepted her invitation fully. I feel her excitement and beauty whenever I reflect on the experience. It was a true gift, given and received in a routine task of buying groceries.
Today, as I sit here writing this, I am listening to a maintenance worker repairing a leaky fire sprinkler head in my condo. I’m smiling ear to ear as I hear him whistling and humming while he completes his work, and I recognize and feel the contagious bright light of beauty he gifts me with as he whistles and hums his song.
I invite you to notice…to reflect… to look, to feel, to listen, and ask yourself … What is it in the ordinary that is beautifully extraordinary?
With Love, Light, and Gratitude,
Sandy
