Week Fifty: Murmurings of Return

Walking through Central Park one morning a couple of weeks ago, I became aware of a sound I haven’t heard for many months. The leaves in the trees were murmuring overhead, signaling their renewed presence. It was a delicious moment of rediscovering something familiar and friendly in my environment, and I delighted in its presence.

The experience got me to thinking about the ways in which we unexpectedly rediscover things we thought we had lost – a moment of comfort during a time of chronic pain, the happiness of beginning a new day after a time of depression or sorrow, the return of sunlight after a storm. That got me to thinking about cycles, about the inevitability and promise of change.

These moments of return are around us every moment, if we will take the time to notice them. For this week’s experiment, I’d like to invite you to notice the return of sources of comfort, delight, ease, fun, inspiration, nourishment – those moments when you unexpectedly revisit something you haven’t thought about or experienced in a while. The movement of seasons offer many opportunities to notice the return of experiences that are an inherent part of each season. In your personal life, moments of return needn’t be dramatic or even deeply meaningful. They may be as simple as noticing some flowers that bloom year after year at the same time, or catching the rerun of a television show you really wanted to see but missed. They may also be highly significant, as when you discover a photograph of a friend you haven’t seen in a long time, or find something you thought you had lost.

The important thing, as always, is to invite yourself to pay attention to your world and to your responses to what your world brings your way. Be sure to allow curiosity to be your best companion along the way.

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