Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/a-manner-of-speaking/5023996/
Projects, lists, tasks. Things to do that would fill my day with accomplishments, lined up in my head as I awoke. But it was late, and the sun was shining; so I decided to begin with a walk on my favorite beach. Even here I have goals and wear a fitness tracker to keep me honest, but I stopped now and then to notice things — a child, “We can do it again here, Grandma!”; a bug I’d never seen before shoveling through the sand; the sound; the surf; the birds. I picked up an Americano at my favorite coffee shop (it’s my favorite because they know me by name), picked out a crunchy baguette for dinner, chose a perfect tomato at the market. Sipping that Americano on the deck, I began to read the newest Louise Penny book I’ve been anticipating. Can you feel the perfection of the moment I’m describing?
But beside me the pot of pansies needed deadheading, so I leaned forward to pluck a dead blossom — and then I stopped myself. I had an acute awareness of the path of tasks that would lead from that simple act of gardening — the tasks, all of ...