The very first time

My favorite line in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was attributed to Grandma Mary Romley when she advises “to look at everything always at though you were seeing it for the very first or last time”.

When it comes to certain things I find it is instinctive behavior. A sunset, I can sit and watch a sunset and I never grow tired or weary or bored. Yes I have seen many a sunset, but not this particular sunset. Each time the colors are different, the sun is in a slightly different position than the day before, the clouds form different reflections, the fog creates patterns.

When I come upon a waterfall I always gasp, no matter how many times I’ve seen it, it washes over me and refreshes me and I feel brand new. The sound of the rushing water draws me in, same as the waves crashing on the ocean sand.

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We all ooh and ahh at the sight of a rainbow, we chase it with our eyes to find its end or its beginning.

The Grand Canyon, Sedona (The Chapel of the Holy Cross), Avon by the Sea, Paris, NYC, South Plymouth, I have visited these places multiple times. It is never the same, it can never be the same, it is impossible to reproduce the exact same elements at the same time, including my positioning, to ever recreate an identical view and experience. I feel a sense of brand new excitement and possibilities every time. Each time brings new awareness to things I may have missed the last time.

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Because of this, these things are never mundane, I never grow tired or bored.. yet how easy is it to grow bored of our every day surroundings because we fail to look at our own lives in the same fashion.

I’ve decided I am going to use this process in my every day existence. I will try to remember to look upon my seemingly ordinary backyard with new eyes, in search of the tiny miracles and beauty of nature. (Do you see the hearts?)

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I will look upon my meals with anticipation, well actually I already do this. I’m a foodie and food is a full body experience, sight, smell, feel and taste; one to be enjoyed and savored.

I will take great care to surround myself with people who are good for my soul. I will remind myself to be patient with those people and give them my undivided attention, I will listen with new ears to their words as if I am hearing them for the first time to deepen my understanding of their meaning.

I will work to view each decision and action I make as if my life depends on it, because the direction my life heads is directly related to each choice I make. I must live my life with intention and interest. I must feel the excitement and newness of each day and must create something special and wonderful.

I want my life to echo the words of Michael L Jones..so that it feels like the first time, like it never did before; like it never will again.