The Violin & The Water Glasses

The. Best. Thing. I've. Seen. Riding. Public Transit.

Or at least close to it . . .

I wish I had a video to show you of the great sight, but sadly, I don't. Looks like you're going to have to use your imagination!

Picture, if you will, a gray building with rooftop access right next to the elevated train tracks. Standing side-by-side on the rooftop are two men, right at the ledge. The man on the left is playing a violin. The man on the right is holding a serving tray with two wine glasses of [what I'm assuming is] water, OVER the edge of the building.

As the train curves around the building, the violinist plays on. The water man's arm shakes with fatigue (I don't really know if his arm was tired, but it sounds good!) My head turns as the train passes by, eager to see what is happening. As the building quickly disappears from view and I'm straining my neck and eyes to their fullest extent, I see only ONE other person on the train who has spotted the odd situation outside.

I'll never know exactly what was going on, but my suspicion is a science experiment! I predict they were seeing if the violin could play the right note at the right frequency to shatter the wine glasses. I also predict the glasses had different levels of water. I discussed this great sight with a friend later and she had different ideas as to what the two men were doing - but now I forget what they were . . .

So how was your imagination? Could you picture it? If not, my quick drawing below will bring it home for you.

NOTE: This is an EXACT likeness.
Couldn't get closer to the real thing unless you were there!

Actions Speak Loud With Some Words

When trying to live my life by practicing what I preach, in terms of everyone matters and all people have value, I've found things harder than before. Really, the struggle now seems to be NOT acknowledging people around me.

Like most people - scratch that - like ALL people, I have initial impressions about those I see around me. I won't lie, the other day when there was a mentally handicapped man on the train stopping and talking to various people, I didn't want him to talk to me. To reduce the chances of this, I knew I needed to NOT acknowledge him - which was really hard! I think I couldn't fully ignore everything except my own existence in the world and looked in his direction.

He started talking to me.

I had two options: be a humongous jerk and completely ignore him or politely acknowledge him with limited responses. I chose the latter. But even as I started in with my tight smile and short answers, I found myself quickly becoming much less defensive about interacting with him.

Why?

Because I had eyes, to start with. I could see how everyone else looked at him, averted their gaze when he approached or completely ignored him. And this observation made me really sad. I'm no angel. I'm guilty of doing all of these things on a probably more frequent basis than I even realize. However, my attitude-changing thought on the train was: What if this was me? How incredibly lonely and degrading and dehumanizing would it be to essentially be excluded from interactions of everyday society because you are different and can't help it? It would be a completely different story if he was a drunk on the train and terrorizing people. But he wasn't. He was [probably] a mid-30s, bearded man, complimenting people on their shirts.

That was the first reason I quickly changed my stance on talking to him. The second reason was gratitude - You could tell that he was genuinely happy about talking with another person. If I wasn't completely sure of this, the smile and twinkle in his eyes definitely gave it away.

What did we talk about?

Actually, it was still just me giving short acknowledging responses to the statements [I could understand] about his train destination plans for the afternoon. But through this he was able to share and (sort of?) make connections with others [i.e. me] around him.

Taking time to adjust my instinctive impression and being open to talking with this man on the train may not seem like a big deal. And it may not have meant anything to the man at all. But regardless of the meaning on the receiving end, I know I can feel good about upholding my own standards and giving everyone a chance of at least a small bit of human dignity.

Again, It might not seem like much, but just imagine if everyone was willing to make such small efforts! That's the world I want to live in and I'm trying my best to lead by example. Will you join me?

A Sister's Duty . . .

Is to come up with a fantastic variety of options from which her new nephew's name will be chosen. 

Embrace Change . . . REALLY

I've heard the phrase a lot, as well as have it on the vision board that's hanging on my wall. Whenever I look at the board the component that jumps out at me first - hands down - is 'embrace change.'

[You'd think it would be the giant 'healthy,' right?]

Weird. Is there a reason for that? I think, yes, as I'm going through a career/life transition and figuring out what I REALLY want, what I enjoy, what makes me happy. And then the easier part of figuring out how to apply these things and make a living. I'm not joking about application being the easy part. I mean, it's hard, but the introspection that has to come before it is REALLY hard! Which is probably why I still haven't passed through that phase . . .

With a fluid and ever-changing life state and an overwhelming number of possibilities before me, yes, I think there's a reason 'embrace change' jumps out at me.

However, I discovered that I might not be viewing the 'embrace change' philosophy through the best lens. Last night, I realized that I associate change that needs to be embraced with change that is not necessarily the result of one's choosing. Therefore, I subconsciously attach a slight negative connotation to it, I think. That's not to say I think change is a bad thing, but in my experience embracing change typically contains elements or situations where there is pain or great uncertainty before glory and excitement. For example, moving on from a relationship that's no longer suiting you or getting transferred to a different team/project at work. These changes are definitely good, and more often than not you know they are - or will be - good for you, but what if there's more to the whole thing?

Maybe embracing change is really about actually feeling all of the emotions we have as we are experiencing them, in an effort to REALLY take in the moment - and life. With this thought in mind, you could totally apply the 'embrace change' mindset to fantastic, planned changes that take place. They are changes, after all, and you do need to embrace them fully. Let's flip the previous examples. Maybe this joyful change results from working on a relationship to now positively benefit all parties, or acknowledging and getting excited about the new things you'll learn in your new team or project at work, added responsibilities you might have, greater ownership, and an overall new experience.

We can all embrace change:
- in times of struggle and uncertainty: trusting and working hard so that things work out in our favor (however that may be - even if unknown to us)
- in times of joy and clarity: celebrating achievements and direction you are traveling, expressing your emotions and sharing them with others, and then paying it forward to help others do the same.

The Google dictionary tells me that embrace means:

"accepting or supporting something willingly or enthusiastically"

That sounds pretty good to me!

What changes are you dealing with right now? Are you embracing the more difficult changes with an open mind and sense of adventure? Or the easy, joyful changes by allowing yourself to truly feel your emotions at this time and sharing them with others - helping to inspire and motivate?

I hope so. 

I'll certainly be adding this to my list of things to work on. 

Day 52: Broken Buzzer :(

Uh-oh 

A broken buzzer is mighty unfortunate. But I certainly enjoyed seeing the notification as I passed by! I really enjoy pictures like this. There's always so much more going on than first meets the eye. Let's see how much you see with a [fun] counting game.

How many doors do you see?

How many cars?

How many trees?

How many windows?

Can you see any lights?

How many locks?

How about straight up layers to this photo?

Day 51: Hop, Skip & A Jump

Why is it that we get so caught up in what other people will think of us that we limit our actions, expressions and emotions because of that? Simple example, reading a funny message or story on the train or at your desk at work. Personally, I know I've been trained (through continuous observation of others' similar situations) to try to keep it in and not make a scene. Rather than bursting out with loud laughter, I try to keep it sealed in, maybe only a tiny giggle escaping. Why do we do this? It doesn't make a difference on anyone else's life, so why not just let our emotions flow? Darn societal pressures and unwritten rules ...!

On a slightly different note. Let's talk about skipping. Once I was with my friend downtown and we were hurrying to catch a green light to cross the street. She asked me "should we run for it?" I responded, "yeah, but let's skip!" So we did. Across the street and down the block. And you know what?

IT WAS SO FUN!

Seriously, smiles were plastered to our faces and we couldn't stop giggling. Today, I was watching a short webinar and one of the presenters discussed that when she is excited about something and wanting to celebrate, she skips. "That's so awesome," I thought. "I love skipping!"

Hearing that made me recall skipping across the street with my friend, as well as the conversation that followed:

Me: Oh man, that was great.
Friend: Yeah! I'm a bit out of breath.
Me: Me, too! Wouldn't it be so great to see people out skipping instead of running or jogging?
Friend: Haha, yes! '...I'm just going to go for a quick skip after work...'
[Giggle, giggle, giggle]

But seriously, how great would it be to be going about your business and all of a sudden someone passes by you skipping?! That would make you smile probably, right? Or laugh? Or at the VERY least pull out your phone and take a quick video! I think this is something that needs to catch on.

Skipping provides:
1) Excellent cardiovascular benefits
2) Boost in mood
3) Brings joy to basically everyone who sees it

It's a win-Win-WIN! Personally, I can't see a single argument that could counter how great skipping is.

Skipping is WAY underrated - let's bring it to the level of recognized greatness it deserves!

Day 50: Nature's Perfection

Have you ever observed nature? Like REALLY looked at it to see all of the smallest details? I try to do this, and I think I'm pretty observant, but it's tough to do on a consistent basis. However, there are times when I really tune into what's in front of me to take it all in.

I'm a details person, so this is probably easier for me than other. For example, one day many years ago, I observed a beetle in front of me. It had a decorative shell so I took the opportunity to not just note that the shell was eye catching, but to specify what exactly made it up to be so mesmerizing.

I also did this exercise with a peacock. I know your mind immediately jumped to the beautiful tail of the male, but I'm not even thinking about the tail! Allow me to illustrate - or at least try...

Here are [most of] the colors found commonly on peacocks . . . I wouldn't necessarily combine them all in one creation . . .

. . . but in nature, they are perfect.

Now let's look at some of the different patterns and textures!

Again, not what I would think to pair together . . .

Here, you see how the colors actually look together on the real creature:

And now for the whole bird - 

Magnificent!!! And you're probably not even looking at the tail!