Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

My cancer diagnosis is superfood for the struggling mind. It is not only afraid of what is to come, but it truly dislikes not feeling well and it has an aversion to the limitations that cancer brings. But I’ve been playing a wonderful game with myself – up arrow or down arrow. Up arrow means I am caught in my struggling mind – in the prison of the stories in my head. When I recognize this, I follow the down arrow into my body, into resting in my breath, which makes it safe for my heart to open. And what I oftentimes discover there is a deep appreciation for what I have, rather than struggling with what I have seemingly lost.

So, I have been having lots of fun opening into joyful appreciation, which comes when I follow the arrow down – appreciation for some of the most basic things that we usually take for granted. When was the last time you gave thanks for your toilet? That may seem ridiculous but when you look down through history, for most of the time human beings have been here, they had to go outside to the outhouse! Rudimentary plumbing began in the 1840s but in 1940, nearly half of houses in the US lacked hot piped water, a bathtub or shower, or a flush toilet. And as of 2014, 1.3 million Americans still didn’t have indoor plumbing! But many of us have in our house a gadget that flushes our waste away with just the touch of a finger. Such gratitude! And as I drink lots of water, I have lots of chances to open to the nourishment of appreciation!

You may be like me. There are things in your body that are not working like they used to but there is so much that is. I can hear! I heard of a man who has such severe hearing loss that hearing aids don’t work and he longs to be able to hear again the music of the birds! Take a moment and bring your attention to hearing the music of life that surrounds you and be grateful for this exquisite gift.

Do you have all your teeth? You may have some implants and dentures rather than your natural teeth but still, think of all they have done for you from the first moment you began to chew food. Can you imagine life without teeth? Can you take a moment to give thanks for your teeth?

Look up from reading this blog. Can you see? Maybe you need help with glasses, contacts or cataract surgery but if you can see, recognize it for the wondrous gift it is. Let in the colors and the dance of shadow and light and all the different shapes in the place that you are right now. Then think of all the people in the world who have gone blind or live in third world countries where they don’t have access to cataract surgery. Give thanks for this gift that we so easily take for granted.

One of my core appreciations is I have family that loves me and that I love in return and they are here for me in this dance with cancer. When my mind starts feeling sorry for itself, I think of homeless people who many don’t have families and I feel deep appreciation for what I do have as my heart touches them for their pain.

Cancer, in a very fierce way, reminds me that we all have a pull date just like milk at the grocery store. In other words, we don’t last forever. It is amazing to me how deeply over the years I have been able to ignore this truth and when I do, I take life for granted. This disease is highlighting for me the preciousness of every moment. This cuts through my struggling mind like a hot knife cuts through butter. And numerous times throughout the day the ordinary turns into the extraordinary.

People also support me in so many ways, some of them so very little that it is hard to notice. I was unboxing some new Christmas lights and there were twisty ties I had to undo. And suddenly, I realized that somebody, somewhere in the world, had twisted these ties. In that moment, my heart burst open and I sent them gratitude for the simple way they had supported my life.

There is great joy that comes from basic appreciation. It is like cultivating a garden. The invitation is to become smarter than your complaints. Watch yourself be seduced into a mind that loves to look at what is not here rather than what is. Rejoice in ordinary things. It may seem like moments such as these don’t make a difference, but they really, really do. In these moments you are coming out of your struggling mind and settling into this moment -the only moment that matters. The only moment where true joy lives. The more you do this, it is like stepping into a warm building after being outside in the freezing cold.

So, look for the smallest of blessings that are everywhere in your life. Oftentimes joy comes in ways we don’t even notice because we’re so stuck in our minds. The ordinariness of all the blessings life is giving you can be hard to see but they are always there.

And when you feel a wave of appreciation, send it out to the world. Become a place of healing for your wave of appreciation truly makes a difference. Maybe there’s no proof of this but the chaos theory in quantum physics says, “The things that change the world are tiny things. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm happens in New Mexico.”

So be brave! Be bold! Appreciate what you have rather than focusing on what you don’t and watch your world change.  What have we got to lose?

If this calls to you, to get to know your mind rather than being lost so you can come home to your heart please join me in my interactive online course What’s in Your Way is the Way starting on January 13th. We will explore how challenges in life are a roadmap back to true and lasting healing. Please contact Devrah for more information about our sliding scale.