Daily 5 - Day 71

In some ways, I'm trying to choose moments to see differently (more joyfully) from all different parts of my day. It would usually be easy (depending a little on the evening) to choose 5 moments from the time after I leave the office each day. Those are usually the best moments of my day. But in this continual push to change ingrained mindsets and patterns of thought, I am trying to find moments to be thankful for even amidst the things I struggle with. I think that makes my daily 5 lists a bit schizophrenic in nature at moments, scattered, even, but it's rather important to me that I find ways to work on seeing differently, and that means the hard stuff, not just the pretty moments.

Today's Daily 5:

1. Feeling, if not at rest, at least relatively calm amidst a huge number of major issues at work today
2. Feeling like I was pretty as I dressed for and went to the concert I worked at/attended tonight
3. Wearing dove earrings
4. Steve Bell in concert - always worth it (plus, fun to catch up with some friends I don't see often, laugh a little, and even collect a few hugs)
   
5. being respected by a friend, who called to ask my permission to share bits of my story in the midst of a challenging situation, and to refer the person to whom he was speaking to me if they wanted further details.
   

Quick Smile List

Because it's half-way through Wednesday, which means I'm half-way through another week of work. Because it's been the kind of week where before I ever left my house on Monday morning, I thought to myself "I need a weekend". Because I'm tired, but oddly peaceful today, and a quick list of things that make me smile can only contribute to that.

• dove in flight necklace


• cooler weather


• figuring out a way to move an office machine so that an extraordinarily tedious task which will fill most of this week is slightly less tedious, and doesn't involve me standing and running back and forth from my desk all day.


• an email from a friend


• satsuma oil and sandlewood oil burning in my bedroom last night


• good leftovers for lunch today


• a favorite new purse from the Tibetan shop I love (my roommate surveyed me this morning and commented, "You look very business like and formal until you see your purse." I laughed and reminded her again that I'm embracing my "hippy, bohemian side")


• mandarin oranges being back in stock at the grocery store


• five reminder stones sitting on my desk


• an odd, but somehow peaceful experience this morning


• time writing on the train


• books

Dove

Today I wore a dove around my neck. I bought a necklace at a fairtrade shop on the weekend. It was made in the Philippines. Just a simple cord, with a few beads, and a white dove, in flight, made from shell.

I needed the reminder it is for me today, and found myself fingering it often.

Peace. Doves are internationally a symbol of peace. I'm trying to find peace in a number of parts of my life again. Feeling unsettled.

But more than that, for me, a dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, of God descending and dwelling in us. I'm reminded of the Spirit descending "like a dove" on Jesus at his baptism. I'm reminded that God dwells with me, holds me. And these days I'm reminded too that the spirit intercedes for us with "groaning beyond words". I need that right now.

So I wore a dove today, and I'll likely wear it again tomorrow, and the day after that, for as long as it takes. I'm waiting for some things to change and I need the reminders of peace, and the presence of the Lord with me closely these days.