(Un)Extraordinary.

I didn't write last week because all I seemed interested in talking about was how many different types of burgers can be enjoyed and how excited I was that Melbourne got some sun and with it, a glimmer of hope for lockdown to be over. Now I have something to write about that I think is worth reading, or maybe just worth getting out onto the page. Let's speak to living an unextraordinary life. I was doing a mediation a few nights ago where you meet yourself in ten years time. I liked her. She was simultaneously entirely me and a completely different woman. What surprised me was the subtle and imperceptible ways she had changed. She stood a little straighter, she was much more calm and considered & certainly more open to going with the flow... *note to self, start that today. I thought to myself, what has happened to make her like this? Does someone die? Does she have a child? Or does she simply eat less burgers and actually shows up to the Yoga class subscription she pays for weekly. Maybe she even decided to spend some of her savings on seeing the world instead of hoarding them like a dooms day prepper. I've been thinking of nothing else the last two days, the vision I had of her was so clear. She was poised and slow moving; radiating health. She wasn't buzzing around like I do now (in my head). She was content and confident. Now, I get to actively work towards that future every day. However, (and this is what I wanted to write about), I won't be in a rush to get there. There are so many things I want to have, which is a funny concept because in life you don't own anything except your own behaviour. Sure, you traded money for those nice sheets or that bottle of wine or the house you live in, but you traded your time for that money, and you traded a hobby or passion for that time. You don't own anything, but yourself. I suppose what I mean is- there are so many experiences I want to have. Waking up over and over, I love watching those dust particles floating around the room in the morning. I want to run to the car with a piece of toast in my mouth yelling at the kids to hurry up. I want to cook a TERRIBLE meal and have to order takeaway instead. I want to try and make one of those cakes my mum made for me from the Woman's Day Cake Book (you know the one) and I want to swim at the beach more. Dragging my sand laden basket out of the car and throwing it down to dive in. *Another note to self, learn to dive. That's what I actually want, just daily life stuff. I don't care if I never get to sky dive or become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. I don't want a wardrobe full of Chanel & Louis Vuitton and I don't particularly care for having a wedding with 400 guests... crystals dripping off the cake. I just want a good quality redwood table in my dining room. A good bread knife. I want to find my perfume scent, my perfect shade of red (lipstick and hair) and I want to see my best friends succeed in all the things they want in life. I want to sing happy birthday to my cousins kids, I want to be a little more sustainable, a little more educated about politics and policies. I want to lick my fingers after making a particularly good salad dressing & to have really really good sex. I don't know when the world decided that the only dreams worth having were the size of the Grand Canyon and that anything smaller isn't worth shooting for and certainly shouldn't be talked about (or posted online). But I do want smaller, much smaller and I'm telling you- if I get there, I'm going to look dayym good in ten years time. The photo at the top of the blog is me when I was 5. I wonder what she would have thought if she met me now. At the end of the day (as always) my favourite poet Mary Oliver sums it up...

The world is fun, and familiar, and healthful, and unbelievably refreshing, and lovely. And it is the theater of the spiritual; it is the multiform, utterly obedient to a mystery. Give in to the mystery. Love, M. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Aside [It's like that episode of Seinfeld where George meets a woman who mistakes him for her boyfriend. He looks just like him, talks like him, has a similar job, goes to the same diner- except for one tiny detail that George wants to find out, because there is no way George would find a woman like that. He's wildly chasing this one thing that could potentially change his entire life direction. Do you ever wonder what yours is? For George, it's that the other guy uses a cane- but I don't think that's mine haha]

Daily Ceremony acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land we work on, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.