I am feeling unaccountably short of new thoughts to share this week. Instead I am simply soaking in beauty wherever and whenever I can. With the extreme cold that has once again descended on us here in Minnesota, I am seeking beauty inside my house.
We continue to limit our outings to walks in nature (not happening today with the frigid temperatures outside) and necessary shopping (masked), medical appointments, etc. So the days move in an easy slow rhythm.
Wake up Call
Though I was working on some writing last week, I’ve had an interruption that makes it difficult to do a lot of work at my computer right now.
On Sunday I had new floaters appear in one of my eyes. They were and still are very distracting whenever I try to read or work at my computer. Because the medical advice I read told me that I should get my eye looked at, I got in to see an opthalmologist on Monday. I was dismayed to learn that the the floaters were caused by something called Posterior Vitreous Detachment. While not necessarily a problem, it tends to happen in older people. For me it’s an unwelcome sign of aging. In some cases it can lead to a retinal tear or retinal detachment so I will need to have my eye monitored for awhile.
Those moments life shows its imperfection, brokenness, resistance to our plans — such experiences, however welcome, often appear to leave those who undergo them in a new and more honest relationship with time. The challenge is whether we might attain at least a little of that same outlook before agonizing loss comes our way.
— Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks
Life’s Little Imperfections
Though this is a minor problem, it is a reminder of my mortality, and it is also a reminder of the preciousness of each and every day of life. My grandmother was blinded by glaucoma when my mom was a teenager so I have always been acutely aware of the preciousness of eyesight. This little wake up call reminds me to give thanks for all of the beauty I see each and every day.
The information I’ve read online suggests that it may take 1-2 months for my brain to learn to ignore the floaters. In the meantime I’ve cut back on computer time though I am still making photographs of my amaryllis flowers before they fade. It astonishes me how flexible the human brain is. It can actually learn to ignore seeing something.
There are two ways to live your life, one is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein
What are you doing during these cold days of January my friends? Are you finding joy in the rhythms of your life? Have you had any wake up calls recently that reminded you to live as though “everything is a miracle?”
May you walk in beauty.
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