Monday, February 07, 2011

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 175

It was a nasty sort of day, and I was in full meltdown mode by about 3:00 this afternoon.  A long, weird day had ensued, the weather was awful, and a phone call informing me of a change of evening plans that I hadn't even been particularly invested in was the tipping point.  I found myself talking on my cellphone, in a green tiled university hallway, with tears welling up, and not even understanding why there were suddenly tears.

I ended up deciding that what my bruised and weary soul needed was a night of nothingness, and that's what I gave it.  Brainless entertainment, laughter in several forms, and a moratorium on homework.  Oh, and chocolate and my favorite soup (now discontinued, and slowly dwindling in my freezer.)

It's the kind of day when a Daily 5 list is important, and the kind of day when it's harder to write.

Here's what I came up with for Today's Daily 5:
  1. A late night exchange last night with my former roommate, L, about the nasty weather we were expecting overnight.  I wrote her commenting "Why on earth do I live here?"  Her response made me laugh out loud, and basically involved her telling me that she'd wondered that herself when she was living here!
  2. That the city had actually cleaned their portion of the sidewalk that I had to walk to get to the bus this morning.  That doesn't sound like much, but when you're slogging through 8 inches of dense, newly fallen snow, a shovelled walk is a blessing.
  3. Cozy mittens
  4. Recognizing choices differently
  5. Being able to duplicate some work from one class for another class, thus saving myself hours of research time
  6. a class getting canceled that allowed me to attend a Monday noon-hour worship gathering led by my chaplain friend on campus.  I needed that 40 minutes of worship and quiet space fairly badly today.
  7. the reminder, via some hard things, to be praying for some friends
  8. my last class of the day ended early
  9. both of my current favorite targets for sarcasm and snarking were out in full force this evening, allowing for brainless entertainment and laughter
  10. "watching" The Bachelor with a far away friend tonight and laughing together
  11. wearing a cute scarf and earrings to school today
  12. giving myself a pass on something I'd told myself I should do, but is absolutely unneccessary
  13. Italian wedding soup for supper
  14. good drinking water
  15. going to bed early tonight, in my own bed, and knowing I don't have class early tomorrow at all, and can thus sleep in without setting an alarm, and hopefully feel a bit recovered when I emerge to face the world tomorrow

4 comments:

christianne said...

So sorry to hear you had such a rough day. Boo. :(

But the fact that the Daily 5 can help bring perspective and remind you of the day's blessings ... there's something very good and holy in this. It reminds me of what I noticed after a week of doing a daily examen at the end of each day -- reflecting on the day to see where God had been present in ways noticed and unnoticed. I began to see God's presence in so many more ways than I otherwise would have, and my gratitude was full, full, full.

Your list made me smile. So many special little things.

xoxo

Lisa said...

Thanks Christianne!

Yep. It's day's like this that make this Daily 5 exercise the most valuable, where they help shift perspective. I've actually got a post about that shifting perspective scheduled for some time in the next week or so.

p.s. thought of you when I was reading the book on prayer that I reviewed over the weekend. Have you ever read Robert Benson? Particularly his book "Between the Dreaming and the Coming True"? I think you'd probably appreciate that one greatly.

christianne said...

No, I hadn't heard of Robert Benson before you mentioned him on your blog. Thanks for the heads up!

Lisa said...

:)
Just talking about it makes me think I need to pull "Between the Dreaming and the Coming True" off my shelf and add it to my pile of soon to be read books again.