Monday’s Meditation: On Making It New
A little while ago I wrote a meditation about seeing with new eyes, in which I suggested that when we let ourselves “get used to” the sights of our life, we reach a point when, in essence, we can no longer really see them. We just know them. Familiarity lends itself to a particular blindness, and in order to remain stimulated by our everyday life, we must purposefully push past that dynamic and attempt to see familiar sights as if for the first time.
It occurs to me that the previous post is absent one key step: it is imperative that in order to avoid boredom and clutter we see with new eyes, yes. But to be able do so without any tangible changes to the scene is an unfair expectation.
So, perhaps, this meditation may be thought of as an addendum to the former; in order to avoid boredom and unawareness we must see with new eyes– in order to see with new eyes we must constantly tweak the sight at which we’re looking.
I instigate large-scale transformations on a daily basis through my work with clients. I am familiar with the exclamations of joy emitted when one suddenly sees their space as brand new after hours of labor. Similarly, I’m familiar with the fascination one easily conjures for the place one has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to get to.
Freshness– having the sense that your life is fresh and full of potential and beauty–doesn’t require those great feats.
Even the smallest tweaks will change the scene and allow you to see things anew.
I have a high level of awareness for my home environment. As can be expected, I am constantly engaged in appraising it, studying it, contemplating what I like and don’t like about it. I have a fairly good grasp on my ability to see it.
But take last weekend, when I mopped the floors. Upon doing so, I got to moving around the living room furniture so as to be able to clean every possible inch of floor. Afterwards, I was still in the move–y mood, and on a whim I decided to permanently shift one small table from the center of the room to the end of the couch (a distance of about two feet, give or take). I then moved a lamp from another room onto the table.
You will have to take me at my word when I tell you that those two seemingly minuscule tweaks transformed the entire room. The layout may have been only slightly altered, but my brain had shifted from auto-scan of the room it was familiar with, to actively processing the sight. The transferring of objects, the shifting of light sources and colors had disrupted the familiarity, gifting me with new eyes; I was seeing my house for the first time all over again, marveling at its beauty as I did on my first walk-through with the realtor.
Of course, this notion holds true for other realms beyond the spatial. All aspects of our daily lives are subject to tweaking, and thus, all aspects of our lives perpetually possess the ability to feel fresh rather than redundant. Whomsoever has complained about their lives feeling stagnant has surely neglected their opportunity to enhance their lives through small but significant tweaks.
Taking an alternative route to work, varying your coffee order, creating new outfits by pairing clothing together in new ways, trying out a different makeup look or hairstyle, buying slightly different food items at the grocery store, visiting that cute cafe you’ve had your eye on for months but haven’t stopped into, creating— all these tweaks and more have the power to instantly remind you that within the life you belief you know so well lies the infinite potential for new experiences and growth.
There is no person on earth, whether they be denizen of the tiniest, most remote village or the noisiest, most-populated city, who can claim that they have reaped the extent of what their present lives have to offer. That’s the universe– it’s infinite. It is by its very nature impossible to harvest to ultimate capacity, because it is continually expanding and shifting. Keep digging. Keep tweaking. Keep seeing.
Image credit: Vogue, August 1996; Gwyneth Paltrow, photographed by Steven Meisel4 Comments
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Your timing is spot on! I was speaking with my husband last night at dinner about how I felt my life had become stagnant and how the routine, thought it is useful and necessary at times, has become mundane. You’ve slapped me in the face, in a good way, and I need to “enhance my life in small but significant tweaks”. Thank you for this much needed push! -Betsy
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Annie, yes so true we are definitely on the same wave length- you are a master of writing though! So enjoyable to read your posts!! Laura xoxo
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Great post! Living in a city that feels hard to control or grasp at times (Hong Kong), you have made me realize where I do have influence and control. My home is MY HOME; my refuge from outside chaos. Thank you for the reminder. And thank you for the encouragement of “keeping” at it.
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Yes, exactly!! Home HAS to be a sanctuary for that very reason.
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Your timing is spot on! I was speaking with my husband last night at dinner about how I felt my life had become stagnant and how the routine, thought it is useful and necessary at times, has become mundane. You’ve slapped me in the face, in a good way, and I need to “enhance my life in small but significant tweaks”. Thank you for this much needed push! -Betsy
Annie, yes so true we are definitely on the same wave length- you are a master of writing though! So enjoyable to read your posts!! Laura xoxo
Great post! Living in a city that feels hard to control or grasp at times (Hong Kong), you have made me realize where I do have influence and control. My home is MY HOME; my refuge from outside chaos. Thank you for the reminder. And thank you for the encouragement of “keeping” at it.
Yes, exactly!! Home HAS to be a sanctuary for that very reason.