Given a choice, most people would choose a week at a sunny, warm beach over the same period of time in the office. (For those who hate oceans — seriously? — there are options: a snowy mountain on which to ski, or a week in a major metropolis to see the sights. Let’s be flexible.)
It’s a moment from the day, a mini-vacation in which the mind and spirit wander to a place of beauty and peace. Phonograph Days, art print from Steve Henderson Collections.
The point is, we thrive on time away from obligations, free time in which our major decision of the day upon waking is what to have for breakfast and then, after that, where to go and what to do.
Vacation.
But reality, for most people who aren’t reality TV stars, is that vacation constitutes a short period of time within the year, and does not necessarily take place on a warm, sunny beach. If we don’t determinedly take control of the various minutes and opportunities that abound, we find ourselves trapped in a cycle of lists, projects, schedules, appointments and duties.
The artwork, Phonograph Days, invites us to take a minute — several minutes — out of our day to simply enjoy the moment.
Relaxed and at ease, a young woman stands before the great technological advancement of her day and listens to beauty. A slight smile playing around her lips, she is, for the moment, far from the room in which she stands. Rather, she is strolling through a place of wonder and peace and goodness.
(Today, we have advanced far beyond the phonograph, with music and podcasts streaming through our ears continuously. But how often do we stop and let them take us to a place of wonder and peace and goodness?)
Throughout the day, each day, there are numerous opportunities to pause from our schedules, lists, projects, appointments, and duties to close our eyes, to breathe deeply, to gently touch the blossom of a flower and marvel at its fragility and strength, to humbly observe a child absorbed in play, to feel the warm golden sunshine (the same sun that shines on the beach) softly breathing onto our face.
The more we seek out the moments, the more we find and appreciate and experience them, the more they imbue our daily lives and change them for the better.
And we find that we are no longer living for vacation. Because we are living every day.
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This Woman Writes by Carolyn Henderson 