The Joy of Things Usually Taken for Granted
Jan Lundy at Awake is Good recently asked her readers what sort of “The Joy of…” book they’d write based on their interests and experiences – e.g., The Joy of Cooking, The Joy of Sex etc.
I commented that mine would be titled, “The Joy of Things Most Taken for Granted.” Here are some of the things it would discuss:
Freedom of physical movement, being able to go outside, being able to sit, to eat with other people, to bend, to reach for objects without giving it a thought. Independence. The ability to drive a car, get food for yourself, wash your own hair, and take a bath or shower instead of having to use baby wipes.
Comfort. Sheer comfort. The absence of physical pain, even for a moment – say at night, in bed. My illness has meant the progressive loss of even very basic joys and comforts – and it turns out that these are the best of all.
When I see people walking and turning and bending freely, reaching for objects easily and at will, it’s like watching birds flying that don’t know they’re flying.
Those things we’re apt to notice least of all are most worth noticing, at least from time to time.
I commented that mine would be titled, “The Joy of Things Most Taken for Granted.” Here are some of the things it would discuss:
Freedom of physical movement, being able to go outside, being able to sit, to eat with other people, to bend, to reach for objects without giving it a thought. Independence. The ability to drive a car, get food for yourself, wash your own hair, and take a bath or shower instead of having to use baby wipes.
Comfort. Sheer comfort. The absence of physical pain, even for a moment – say at night, in bed. My illness has meant the progressive loss of even very basic joys and comforts – and it turns out that these are the best of all.
When I see people walking and turning and bending freely, reaching for objects easily and at will, it’s like watching birds flying that don’t know they’re flying.
Those things we’re apt to notice least of all are most worth noticing, at least from time to time.
Posted by Paul at 12:43 AM Permalink
18 Comments:
"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
For the present discussion, we are referring of course to "blessings conferred by the Creator". I think if I am to remember my Creator (accepting that form of words as part of my cultural inheritance) then the blessings you mention are the methods readiest to hand, and an ideal form of meditation.
so i tell people who cannot stop complaining, that they should take a trip to a neuro ward or any hospital for that matter and know how lucky they are.
now, can you grant me some wishes?
Vincent - Ecclesiastes is so different from most of the Bible. I like it too, and recall that my first reaction to reading it was to wonder how it made it into the canon.
Misti - Visiting hospitals, nursing homes and shut-ins - seems to me that lots of people could benefit from that. Instead, it seems to me that at least in the US, society overall tries to do the opposite - to pretend that this level of suffering doesn't exist and to ignore the fact that most of us finally end up in those sorts of situations.
I guess before I can grant wishes I must have to think of myself as a saint too. Or become a genie.
I am so very grateful for my health. I have been going to physical therapy twice a week for an arm injury and each time I sit in the waiting area I am overcome with gratitude. Most people there are bent over, barely walking, hooked up to oxygen and generally just feeling their aging bodies decline. Then there are the "chemo kids." Little ones who have been through the ordeal of a lifetime and are now in therapy to regain use of their muscles, limbs, etc. I send silent blessings to them as the walk by. And gratitude for the blessings in my life is an ever-present prayer in my heart...
You are a valiant soul, Paul, and I cannot imagine enduring what you do on a daily basis.
May you be happy.
May you be strong.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
God's peace...
Paul, your post brought back memories of my mother who was a stroke victim. She was paralyzed on her left side. She spent the last eight years of her life in a nursing home. She lost so much of the simple joys of life as a result of her stroke. Unable to do for herself and always dependent on someone else for practically everything, her sense of dignity was compromised. She thought less of herself as a result. This always made me sad and made me try harder to restore some of the dignity she had lost.
It is because of my mother's losses that I am always mindful of how precious are those everyday things we can do when we are in good health.
Thanks for your kind words.
Susie – The way that you internalized your experience with your mother is a good example of a spiritual perspective that’s mindful in just the sense I referred to in replying to Jan.
It is for them that I live my days, as I don't quite like or know the meaning of life, because people are just mean and selfish all around.
"People can be so cold
They'll hurt you
And desert you
They'll take your soul
If you let them;
Now don't you let them..."
- James Taylor
"You've Got A Friend"
It's so true no matter how grateful I am and I am, keeping journals for 7 years now. There's so much more to be grateful for that I totally miss daily.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes!
Tess - Thanks for stopping by. That's another similarity then - I have thirteen or fourteen spiral bound notebooks worth of journaling, from about 1980 to 1999. Sounds like we may have used journals for the same purpose - to make note of the small wonders and ordinary good things that are so worth noting...
Like Tess, I also keep gratitude journals. When I read my entries, I smile, as I find it's not material things I'm grateful for. I'm so happy I'm at this point in my life where I've realized that which is truly priceless doesn't even have a price tag.
However, I find it difficult to write in such a way as to capture the spirit and essence of that gratitude, so much remains technically unwritten - just composed in the head or rough notes and never properly logged.
The other reason (excuse) for not achieving what might be truly called a journal (or the retrospective thing---a memoir) is the emerging understanding over time. Experience is not entirely here and now. We can brood on it long after and be grateful now for that which we took for granted then.
Which I guess is where you started this post, Paul.
It's the reflective/personal quality of your posts that made me think "journal." Mine actually wasn't overtly a gratitude journal, more a "stuff worth noticing" journal - when walking or jogging (mainly things about nature), sometimes an especially meaningful exchange with a person, especially with a child since that was my work and I had so much interaction with children.
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