Be With The Day
Be with the day.
I think the invitation comes to all of us, at many points in our day. If we’re experiencing a season of hectic schedules, of “must get this done” on top of “must get this done,” it is the momentary, relieving daydream bred from the ways the clouds are moving outside the window. If we’re experiencing a period of uncertainty, it is the one comfort we can count on: a loving embrace, the plants that need watering, the book we’re excited to get back to. If we’re experiencing a period of slow change that is testing our patience, it is the one sentence we wrote, the one concept we finally understood, the one need we met. If we’re desperate, it’s our feet on the ground, our prayer, our breath.
Be with the day.
The saying, “seize the day” or “carpe diem” is a familiar one, and I’m curious if being with the day has something different to offer. To be with the day may in fact be to seize the day. But I’m curious if to seize the day is always to be with the day. To me, there is something about seizing the day that recognizes the day as opportunity, as vast, but doesn’t necessarily acknowledge the day as running to us as well. Do we believe the day is on our side? Do we recognize our days as full of little meetings with wonder?
Be with the day.
I believe life demands great stillness and humility from us because there is much here to be filled by, to be nourished by. There is always another way. The day is constantly trying to find its way to us.
Be with the day.
Who else doesn’t know what the rest of 2020 is going to look like for them? Show of hands? Who else doesn’t have much of a clue what 2021 will look like? Who else, 7 months into this pandemic, still doesn’t know if they’re adapting as well as they could be? Who else is trying a lot of things and failing at a lot of things? Who else is doubting and despairing?
Be with the day.
This week, one of my closest friends gifted me some skincare products and I remembered how much I love having skin that feels soft. It’s a weird thing (or maybe not at all), but soft skin grounds me. It makes me feel like I have something tactile and tangible to remind me that the coarseness of life has an equal and opposite and I get to feel it right now. It is a tiny nothing, soft skin, and still for me, it is a wonderful gift.
Be with the day.
I have one student I teach English to whose laugh is infectious and makes me genuinely laugh out loud.
Be with the day.
I am experiencing and moving through feelings of anger and frustration and mourning about the ways our country is not what it advertises itself as, not free for all, not just for all. I am witnessing inspired action being taken about it. I find one way to participate. I make a plan for tomorrow. I have a plan for November 3rd:
Be with the day.
The most important and exciting things I have participated in to date have demanded one thing: presence. Theatre, specifically, demands so much presence of its creators. Writing, teaching, cooking, loving. All of these demand presence. Presence demands practice. So, for the sake of all the important moments still to come:
Be with the day.
It’s right here. My goodness, incredible, isn’t it? Even if it is loaded with a thousand wrong things, can you hear the tiny call to something better in your day? The thing that someone might label a tiny nothing, but for you, changes everything?
Be with the day.