Parking Space

All are creatures of habit.
All are comfortable in the status quo.
All are at peace with the way things are.

If you are taking college lectures, you probably sit in the same seat that you found on the first day of class.

If you eat lunch in the same restaurant frequently, you probably look to the same table, with the same server and perhaps even order the same meal.

If you go to work at the same time every day, you probably have a favorite parking space.

The other day, I was captivated with one particular parking location.  For as long as I’ve been driving up to this building, one of the employees has always parked by backing into that exact space every single day.  But a new employee, a person of higher rank, must have arrived before this employee.

Day Trip

Living within a couple of hours of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, I thought it might be time to commune with nature and witness one of the breathtaking displays of the fall season.  Yes, I’m talking about a bright sun revealing the vibrant red, yellow and orange of millions of leaves.

What I actually saw on my little journey were the colors of washed out pink-salmon Sumac, sandstone reflections of faded yellow Hickory and milk chocolate combined with the beef gravy brown of curled dead oak leaves mixed with various shades of green.

Leaf watching disappointed.

The journey did not.

The Big Picture

We’re taught that we need to look at the big picture.  We need to filter our experience based not on what is immediately in front of us, but from a 30,000 foot viewpoint.

For example, we are instructed to consider how the currently intense pain of stubbing our toe compares to the diagnosis of cancer. We are warned that an expected invitation that didn’t come might not be for the reasons we think.  We are cautioned that there’s more going on than we can know.  Looking at the big picture can change everything.

There are countless times when this advice seems to be the perfect solution to getting out of ourselves and understanding that we are part of a much larger creation.  I understand how that can be healthy and eye-opening.

At the same time, I’ve been wondering about the reverse.  Is it ever true that examining that which is mere inches away from us can also be enlightening?

The Push of a Button; Microwave Mentality

I always joke around when the topic of home-made dinners come up.  I mention to those in the conversation that for the last number of years, if it doesn’t go beep-beep-beep when it’s done cooking, I’m probably not the one eating it.

So I’m doing everything wrong.  The dictates of the medical community discourage processed foods.  The decrees of nutritionists encourage slow and deliberate consumption of meals.  But when I get back from the office, it’s late and I’m famished. I'm not waiting.

So, although violating all the mandates, it works! (Except for that weight-gain…)

This is how I imagine that a lot of us live; instantaneous and immediate gratification followed quickly by the next moment of life.