A few mornings ago, I put on cheaters—eye glasses—to have a better look at the ingredient list of a face lotion I was about to use. Satisfied with the fact that nothing too toxic was on the list, I was about to take off the cheaters when I looked down at the floor beneath my bare morning feet and saw….
Oh man was that floor in dire need of cleaning! Not only that, but peering around with magnification revealed that the entire bathroom needed some serious, ahem, attention. It wasn’t gross in a way that would make one wretch, but it was in need of a deeper clean up. Stains of unknown origin, garden dirt and grass, little pills that escaped from Jim’s hands as he took his morning medication, and so on… Without glasses on, I didn't notice any of this, and I was mortified by what I’d been missing.
So I got to work, and spent an hour cleaning up the bathroom. And everywhere I cleaned, I said thank you for this important room, which seemed to make the shine I put on the floor or the sink even brighter.
I was also grateful for revealing what needed tending to. Around these parts, ’tis the season of darkness, when we are all forced to drive in and cope with the longer nights. A lot can be missed in the darkness, so greater care is needed in order to avoid pedestrians crossing the street, or blown down branches skulking on a wet roadway.
Moods are not necessarily bright and cheery this time of year either. When there is loneliness and grief and financial stress to deal with, there is only so much that can be amped up by holiday cheer.
So with this awareness of what might be hiding in the dark, may I suggest we amp up our compassion, and practice random acts of kindness. Heck, let’s all practice kindness, period. You never know what a cashier or a person standing in a shopping line is going through. Just be kind to everyone: your neighbors, the person trying to move into your lane on the freeway, the person residing in a nursing home or hospital for the holidays, the cranky-for-unknown-reasons family member, the slow moving person crossing a street—everyone.
We all matter every day, no matter how many hours of darkness. Let’s make it a point to put on our spiritual “cheaters,’” and be aware of where the light of our kindness is most needed.
Sending kind thoughts your way.
Elke