It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they’re supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?

by Pat Schneider

 

An invitation to notice and appreciate the world around us and look for its goodness. From this poem, as well as some others by her I came across, it seems clear that the American poet and author Pat Schneider found it in many places, before she died not long ago at the ripe old age of 86. Her website offers her range of books, but also a little video of her and her husband reading their poetry and talking about how they met, which gave me a little window into their life that spoke of goodness too…

Easy to overlook the steady presence of the ordinary things around us, but a wonderful source of quiet joy when we wake up to it. As Pema Chodron said: mindfulness is loving the details of our lives… and how wonderful to feel they love us back!

PS. Settling the mind helps us surf the waves of life and be awake to the many ordinary sources of goodness in it. If you’d like to practice together with others, you’re very welcome to join the free daily sits!

Photo by Orlova Maria on Unsplash