Creativity In Motion
What will be your New Year’s resolution? A popular question asked on television, and now that we have umpteen channels, it plays like a skipping record. The most frequent response was “lose weight.” A battle I knew all too well.
Many people, like me, don’t make resolutions because they tackle challenges as they arise. (I don’t like starting a New Year with a “Should” catalog.) I want to greet the new 365 days with excitement and joy; curious about what’s in store.
So instead of resolutions, I have small daily goals. One is to stay focused on the now; it is much harder to do than one might think. (Ekhart Tolle wrote an entire book about the subject.)
My problem is that my mind dances a two-step between the past and the future, often refusing to plant a toe in the present. To rein in my brain and drag it back into the now, I make a concerted effort to be aware of my surroundings. It’s the whole “Stop and smell the roses” philosophy.
During one recent “now” exercise, while stopped at a red light in Rancho Cordova, I noticed a man pushing a grocery cart at a rapid pace. He seemed hell-bent on a destination only he knew. His hands gripped the silver bar of the cart, and his arms were locked in place like rods. His jaw was set, and there was a brown dirt-smudge on his cheek.
I guessed he was homeless by the grimy appearance of his ill-fitting clothes, and from the manner in which he clutched the cart. The four-wheeled container may have once belonged to a store, but there was no mistaking who owned it now.
White plastic bags, too many to count, draped the entire metal frame in tiered rows. As the man pushed forward, the layers swayed, and I was reminded of a beautiful ruffled skirt I’d worn one Easter Sunday long ago. Each sack seemed weighted, and I wondered what treasures were hidden within. The man sailed past, driving the swift moving cloud of plastic.
The light turned green, and as I inched forward, I said a silent prayer for the traveling soul, and thanked him for sharing his grocery cart creation. Not having New Year’s resolutions works well for me. By staying in the now, I was given a unique image that will stay with me for years.
And one never knows, I may get the honor of doing a tarot reading for a homeless person since I have a desire to team-up with local charities.
