Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Best Day Ever 2

We've been often getting watermelons in our CSA shares for months now. I cut up the whole watermelon into chunks putting it in one big container and then cut up the rind in another. Then I can just grab some melon for breakfast or some rind for a salad. This morning, as I cut up a watermelon, I remembered that today is the best day ever, and instead of being a task, I appreciated the abundance and wonder of the watermelon.


I watched the rest of Hamlet (a very long movie) with Jaz and finished up several half-finished blog posts while Jasmine organized her CDs. And then lunch and off to the park for Girl Scouts. We got there early and I sat in the sun to read while Jaz played. It's so nice to be out.

I remember it was the best day ever and felt the tenderly beautiful kiss of the sun, while I read this from Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Some Sufis who adopt a certain method of progress on the spiritual path...are known as dervishes. [They] have great powers of wonder-working and of insight. The are dreamers and lovers of God. The worship God in nature, especially in human nature. Among many ways of spiritual development they have one called Suma, which is listening to music. They listen to music in an assembly of the initiated...[and] address on another saying, "O king of kings, O sovereign of all sovereigns'' and are mostly clad in patched robes or in rags. They are the ones who are really entitled to enjoy the beauty of music; whose spirit and soul are responsive, with open centres, who make themselves into a medium of resonance for the music they hear: wherefore music touches them differently from any other people: music touches the deepest part of their being. Thus moved by music, they manifest various states. Anyone among them who is moved by the spirit may manifest ecstasy, Wajad, in the form of tears, sighs, or dance.

But one can learn from this the theory of the whole process of their spiritual development. By making God their Beloved, and by seeing God in the sublimity of nature, they created the presence of God....

At the community center where Jasmine's Brownie Troop meets, there is a small workout room with a weight machine and several treadmills, stationary bikes etc. As I ran on a treadmill, I remember it was the best day ever and instead of watching the readouts and thinking about how much farther to push myself, I enjoyed running into my best life surrounded by love. And when 3 other people showed up (the weight machine can only handle two) instead of grumbling to myself about not getting to use the machines I want when I want, I remembered these women are Queen of Queens and enjoyed their presence.

After girl scouts, I sat and read some more while Jaz played.

The musicians of India devote twelve hours or more of the day to the practice of different rhythms, improvising on them. And in the end they produce a psychological effect which is not music but magic; a magic that can thrill a person and that can penetrate the heart of man. It is a dream, a mediation; it is paradise. When hearing it, one feels one is in a different world....Instead of being played before thousands of people, only one or two or three persons of the same quality and nature come together to enjoy that music thoroughly. If a foreign element is present the musician does not feel inspired.

Once a musician was invited to play the vina. The musician came and was welcomed. He uncovered his vina. Then he looked here and there, and found some discord. He covered his vina, saluted and began to leave. Those present felt disappointed and begged him to play; but his answer was, "No matter what you give me, I do not feel like plying." This is a very different thing from making a programme months ahead....A singer in the East never knows what he is going to sing before he starts singing. He feels the atmosphere of the place and the time and then begins to sing or to play whatever comes to his mind.

It is the best day ever to sit under trees during a beautiful sunset watching the children play and reading exactly what I need to. Thank you.


This evening, I was in the bathroom. Usually I notice it's a mess, but as I remembered that this is the best day ever, I felt grateful and my soul opened up to the love and beauty always around me.

The most common thing I noticed with my thoughts is that I'm nearly always thinking, I "should" be doing something other than what I'm doing. If I'm cleaning the house, I "should" be getting some exercise, if I'm helping Jasmine with something, I "should" be cleaning, or if I'm blogging I "should" be playing music. On and on ad infinitum. But when I remember it is the best day of my life, I realize that it's all just perfect the way it is. To quote from Hamlet:

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There is a cute little song by Cheryl Wheeler about always thinking you should be doing something else. Unfortunately I could not find a recorded version online.

Unworthy

I'm unworthy, and no matter what I'm doing,
I should certainly be doing something else.
And it's selfish to be thinking I'm unworthy,
all this me, me, me, me, self, self, self, self, self.
If I'm talking on the phone I should be working on the lawn
which looks disgraceful from the things I haven't done.
If I'm working on the lawn I should be concentrating on
those magazines inside, since I have not read one.

I should learn how to meditate and sew and bake
and dance and paint and sail and make gazpacho.
I should turn my attention to repairing
all those forty year old socks there in that bureau.
I should let someone teach me to run Windows,
and learn French that I can read and write and speak.
I should get life in prison for how I treated my parents
from third grade until last week.

I should spend more time playing with my dog
and much less money on this needless junk I buy.
I should send correspondence back to everyone
who's written, phoned or faxed since junior high.
I should sit with a therapist until I understand
the way I felt back in my mom.
I should quit smoking, drinking, eating, thinking
sleeping, watching TV, writing stupid songs.

I should be less impatient when the line just takes forever
'cause the two cashiers are talking.
I should see what it's like to get up really early rain or shine
and spend three hours walking.
I should know CPR and deep massage and Braille
and sign language and how to change my oil.
I should go where the situation's desperate
and build and paint and trudge and tote and toil.

I should chant in impossible positions
till my legs appear to not have any bones.
I should rant at the cops and politicians
and the corporations-in indignant tones.
I should save lots of money to leave Audubon,
plus all the rocks and animals and plants.
I should brave possibilities for plotting plums of problems
prob'ly blossomed, plausibly from
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm unworthy.


Theresa (The openID thingy is not working)