Everyone I have talked to lately expressed weariness due to the misery of COVID overlay in all of our lives. Even for those of us who have tried to ignore it to the degree we can, we are all worn out with it.

 

 

Wednesday morning was a beautiful fall day, so I decided to go for a walk and take our dog Riley for his morning stroll. My dear friend Nola returned home the night before from a long overdue stay in Maine. I headed to her front porch for a visit.

 

Along the path, I stumbled upon some beautiful roses with heavenly fragrance. I actually stopped, knelt down and smelled the roses. The intoxicating fragrance drew me into a deep place away from the maddening reality of politics, COVID and all other craziness. Smelling the fragrance felt like a transfusion of joy and light.

 

How tender and sweet those moments were as I stopped to smell the roses.

 

In the Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron says, “stand knee deep in life and pay close attention to the detail. Survival lies in sanity and sanity lies in paying attention. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. Paying attention is an act of connection” (53).

 

Maybe if we took some time to “stand knee deep in life and pay close attention to detail,” and delight in little things, we would find much needed solace.

 

Let us press into the act of connection and pay attention to the details.