POCKETS FULL OF PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS
September 6, 2015
Alpine, Al
Alpine, Al
Nature is tapping on the window and waving me outdoors. Excited for a chance to play with her, I gather what I need and hurry out. With the door flung wide and a grin wider still, I rush into the day... only to stop short … Nature shakes her head at me. “What?...why shake your head I ask”? "Well can't you see your pockets bulge with preconceived notions of how this day should be? Put them all aside and come out here with me.” “ I can't do that I need each one...I’ve collected these for years. They tell me what I need to think, what it is I see...what's important now to want and just how that I should be”. Resigned Nature mumbles, “poetic but that makes no sense at all to me"! "Ok, come on she says you'll learn". Maybe this isn't going to be a perfect friendship after all (the ‘Friendship Notion’ is tucked safely in my pocket…I know what to expect and this isn’t feeling quite right!). Once we begin the day Nature ambles over and sits beneath a tree. Oh well, I‘ll begin MY day. I pull a wrinkled notion from my pocket, shake it out and hold it up to reality…they don’t match…reality is going to need real work today. As you would suspect of anything preconceived… sometimes the notions look a lot like reality, at other times not so much and some never match at all! By the end of this day I am tired, hot and ok, dirty...this being one of those days when WORK has been required to nudge reality toward an acceptable ‘Garden Notion’. Glaring at her I see Nature still rests under the tree, her arms folded with peace and joy swirling ‘round her. Hey, she calls to me, I've been watching you...sometimes you look happy, then you frown and shake your head, then next maybe boredom appears… the list goes on and on. Come sit here on the ground with me and let's talk. "Why do you feel no joy with our day" she gently asks? I spread one of the damp and crumpled notions on the ground. Obviously nature just isn't aware that preconceived notions show how things are supposed to be. Look, to be happy right now this is the notion that I chose...to be in the middle of a beautifully manicured flower garden with blooms all around and butterflies dancing happily above the scene. I have been weeding and weeding and I'm losing the light of day... look at the weeds still to go....this doesn't yet match my ‘Garden Notion’ so right now there’s no joy for me. "Well I see what you mean," Nature says pointing to the notion spread between us on the ground. "This notion is very specific and detailed, not much leeway for deviation here," she shakes her head..."but could you tell me the most important parts of it for you?" "Well the flowers and butterflies, of course," I say...a little exasperated that nature doesn't seem to understand… stopping to teach her is putting me behind. "Just one more question," she promises. "Stop weeding for just a moment, look up and tell me what you see around you?" I stop, look and bewildered say, " I can't really tell you...because sitting here... I can't see past the flowers and the butterflies."
