Look Up

I was leaving school. It had been a long day. There was a lot of cleanup and correcting to do in the art studio at this old school. The burden of my backpack reminded me I still had work to finish. I pushed open the door, having spent the entire day inside.

A warm breeze hit my face. I inhaled deeply. Exhaled. Then took the five steps down to the parking lot. I looked up—and was met with a stunning image in the sky. The sun was pushing rays past the clouds in distinct angles. The sight was breathtaking. Good thing I’d already inhaled and exhaled, because I might’ve forgotten to take my next breath. The contours, the values, the rays—everything looked sculpted and painterly, all at once.

“Oh wow.” The words slipped out, out loud, for no one but myself.

As I kept walking toward my car, still looking up, I heard, “Have a good evening, Ang.” A colleague had followed me out, but I was so caught up in the sky I hadn’t noticed her until she spoke.

“Look up,” I said. She did.

A breathy “Oh wow” came out of her mouth.

“Isn’t it pretty?” I stated more than asked.

Glimmers

Recently, I heard about a concept called a glimmer. A glimmer is the opposite of a trigger. It’s some kind of cue—internal or external—that brings us back to a sense of joy, safety, or comfort. For me, it was the clouds. That moment, that view—that was my glimmer.

Small stuff

It’s the small things. And those small things are the steps to the next things—the basics, the quiet stitches that hold our lives together. When we notice something pretty, impressive, awe-inspiring, it enhances those softer, steadier parts of life. And if we focus on the negative, the annoying, the sad? I think that enhances those parts instead.

So maybe we have to ask ourselves: what do we want our lives to feel like? Pretty lovely—or pretty tough? The answer is often tied to our perception. What we see, and how we see it.

Some days are a slog. But the little things—the glimmers—get me from one day to the next.

What are the little things you notice—the glimmers in your ordinary days?

As always, thank you for reading–Lovelies.