Glints from the Periphery

that sometimes save us from ourselves

dear creators,

I don’t know about any of you, but during much of this August I’ve had this feeling that I’m just barely keeping my nose above water—you know, just your average overwhelm and fatigue. Even so, I’ve managed to catch a few uplifting glints out of the corner of my day-to-day-grind: these are unassuming occurrences that bring out a true spontaneous smile and peaceful vibe.

The glint I’m about to share isn’t going to mean as much to anyone else, but perhaps it can act as a switch to light up your periphery so that you may notice something that springs you back to the living present (if you’re in need of such a thing).

So I’ve been taking my time putting away all of Sadie-pony’s things (our dear elder dog who passed away last March)— mainly to save myself from a jarring transition. Her presence is still so ‘in the fore’ that I’ve left her eating and drinking bowls out with the occasional offering.

I realized I had been neglecting these offerings when I saw that our large rubber plant had dropped a leaf right in one of her dishes. This plant rarely parts with a leaf so this left me with a grin and I left the leaf in the bowl. Then about a month later, a second leaf showed up right on top of the other and I thought: for sure Luke put it there as a joke. He did not.

The next image is from the perspective of the bowl— to give some idea of the odds of two large leaves landing so perfectly (and there are no other leaves ready to drop).

I don’t need to build up some elaborate story, meaning or significance over this— it’s just something unpredictable that took place (hmm that’s a curious expression: to take place) and it immediately offered a jolt that felt…fun. I may have even let out a HA! when I first saw it. And not long after, I noticed a natural shift in my perspective and attitude that was uplifting.

I really do underestimate, undervalue and underappreciate these small happenings (I consider the act of noticing as a happening) and the power they have to rattle us out of our identification with dread and congealed thinking.

Here are a few other surprise things that came into my field of view over the last two months:

I just noticed the tattered tutu on this gorilla. Anyone else wondering about this shop on 16th avenue and Centre St., Calgary, Canada?

Someone donated their lifetime collection of, most likely, fortune cookie fortunes. I had the arts ventures students grab one a day to keep the fortune going.

The tape collection this summer started looking like a disgruntled cat.

Here’s to all the glints out there, waiting to take place, catch our senses and snap us out of our self-imposed miseries.

Keep the beat,

~Corrie

PS. You know I’m actually gonna build a narrative around the leaves in the bowl happening!