One Ordinary Day

I had to run errands today. Just an ordinary day. My busy schedule included grocery shopping, holiday shopping and more. The faces are what I was drawn to. So many different faces holding so many different emotions. Smiling faces made me smile back. It felt contagious. Twinkling eyes met mine and we smiled, nodded even gave the right of way to one another with grocery carts or at entrances. Holiday cheer was radiating from many faces as the hustle and bustle was carried with joy and delight. For them I allowed my soul to dance with. Our energies celebrated each other and we enjoyed our kindness and pleasure of humankind together as we faced the ordinary tasks at hand with a lightness and grace that flowed through and around.

Irritation and annoyance was also present in many knitted eyebrows and downturned mouths. Mere utterances from clerks as they checked me out, barely meeting my eyes when they handed me the receipt with an almost inaudible “thank-you” spoken in terse tones. I would imagine this is a taxing time to be a cashier, but so much of their attitude is setting the momentum of their day. For them I felt compassion as I have often had to pull myself out of a bad moment or a bad day and try to salvage it, try to rise above and make something good come from it. If anyone had offered me a small dose of compassion on those days, it would have carried me so far. And so I dosed it out today, like Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar.

Then there were those who simple were not engaged in any way at all. They looked like walking zombies, their minds and hearts elsewhere, vacant stares, plodding along down aisles with a step that lacked any intention. For them I felt the most love of all. Where had they lost themselves? What could be so heavy that their burden was obvious and palpable? My silent prayer of hope for lightness to rest within their spirit was made and I offered as much kindness as they would allow, if any.

One ordinary day spent among so many strangers, some more familiar than others. One ordinary day where I crossed the spectrum within my heart errand by errand, face by face, chance by chance allowing the ebb and flow of my spirit gracefully weave its way through the hearts of the community.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade