To wake up to another day and looking at the beautiful summer garden in front of our house is joy every day, it seems to be so ordinary to look at a garden while in fact, it is not. it gives joy right from the beginneing of the day to everyone who passes by and is open to perceive all this beauty nature offers so freely and abundantly. Thank you.
What comes to mind is a safe place to live without any real threats (that I know of) of severe weather except for possibly thunderstorms or hurricane. The news is so constant of severe weather lately. My son was stuck in NJ/NY due to severe flooding/rain. His flight got cancelled 2 days in a row while traveling back from Costa Rica. He ended up taking a train and even that was getting water inside. Just something ordinary that perhaps I don’t have to worry about.
Everything I think of as ‘ordinary’ that enhances my life,
is not really ordinary . . .
and I am happy that many others here
feel the same way.
It means
we are learning to be present and grateful.
A shower in the morning
is not ordinary to a prisoner in Alligator Alcatraz . . .
neither is a loaf of simple bread
to a family living in a refugee camp in Gaza.
The shelter of four walls
is no longer ordinary to families in eastern Texas,
I could go on,
but you get the point.
I will say
that having a washing machine
is an ordinary appliance in most homes in the developed world,
but never having had a washing machine
until I moved here 13 years ago,
I would have seen it as extraordinary.
Before that,
I had to rely on buckets, tubs
and laundromats.
I am now
living the life of luxury
having my very own washing machine.
Can you imagine the number of hours
washing clothes and sheets and towels by hand
actually takes?
There is nothing left of a day in which hand washing is done.
Going to the laundromat is much better,
but still can take half a day.
Now that i have my washing machine
I have the gift of many more hours of time . . .
to do the dishes,
work in the garden,
read a book,
or sit in the sun and do nothing at all.
That enhances my life
more than I can say . . .
the gift of time.
Washing Machine. The first appliance I ever bought was a used washing machine, around 27 years old I was. Thank you for the reminder of pre and post washing machine dear Sparrow.
My first thought was that what is ordinary for me is not ordinary in many parts of the world and so I give thanks that I awoke today with a roof over my head, food in the refrigerator, no serious storm warnings, etc., etc. I’m going to remind myself all day long that gratefulness enhances my daily life.
I have to say my morning coffee.
I am not a morning person.
Nor were my Mom, nor my two younger sisters.
My youngest sister, Jean,
even as a toddler, especially loved sleeping in.
My Dad, however, was very much a morning person.
I remember one Saturday morning, Dad cheerily popped into Jeans bedroom,
and began making humorous remarks.
With each joking comment, Jean, was becoming more and more irritated.
Finally, Jean looked at Dad, dead in the eye,
and said with the most grave tone a three year old could conjure,
If you’re going to fool, get out.
Jean was tough, even as a baby,
and having been chastised, Dad, got out.
So a morning cup of coffee,
to the females in my house,
has always been like a gift from heaven,
mellowing out even the most cranky among us.
Coffee enhances my life,
by bringing alertness each day to my sleepy self.
I used to drink tea,
but lately more and more,
I am grateful for the gift of morning coffee.
🥰🥰🥰
I recently found two things that bring both joy and challenge to my life. Reading Loc and his mom’s poems gives me so much joy and relaxation, while playing my Ocarina fills my day with a fun challenge. I wake up excited to play a new song and read a new poem. I even played a new song just yesterday.
Wishing you all a wonderful day full of happiness! 🌸 https://www.facebook.com/tram95ni/videos/712531661601716?idorvanity=9857003463
YRAM, Facebook will make it look like you have to get an account, but I think that if you just X out and ignore all of the notes saying to get an account, you should still be able to play the video, since Ngoc posted it publicly rather than just a a group of Facebook friends.
I’m so happy to see that you’re interested in listening to my music, Yram… unfortunately, I can’t post it on YouTube because of the copyright issue. Let’s me think another way to publish it somewhere else… Have a wonderful day filled with happiness… 🌸
Is that really you,
dear Ngoc,
playing the Ocarina?
It’s a wonderful little instrument
and you play it so beautifully . . .
amazing,
the music you can make with a little piece of clay . . . ♥
Thank you so much, dear Sparrow 😍. I’m happy to see that you enjoyed my music… It’s wonderful for me to have a chance to share my music and have someone who likes it. 🍀 Have a fantastic day filled with wonders and peace!
Thank you so much, Sunnypati, for your inspired words. I’m happy for the opportunity to introduce ocarina to my community… 😊 Enjoy this beautiful day with your love ones.
Wow, thank you for sharing the beautiful video of you playing the ocarina, Ngoc! I did not even know what an ocarina was– it has such a haunting, beautiful sound!
My Ngoc, I’m glad you’ve found some things that make you happy. It’s reflective in you being able to sleep right through the night more consistently like when we first married. I’ll be happy to accompany you on your ocarina playing.
My glasses. I have had poor vision since 2nd grade, but with the help of glasses, I am able to see everything around me clearly and read with ease. Glasses seem so ordinary in this day and age and part of the world, but a thousand years ago, they would have been a complete miracle. And many people still lack access to be able to afford glasses or attain a pair of glasses specialized to their eyesight.
Yes! I got my first pair of glasses at age 5 and my eyes got worse and worse over the years. For those of you who are nearsighted, I was a -13 in one eye, -11 in the other. If my vision weren’t correctible I would have been deemed legally blind, unable to get a driver’s license. I was fortunate, truly, to get cataracts a few years ago and get surgery (right before COVID) that brought my eyes to 20/40. With glasses I’m at 20/20. Because my prescription was so, so high the surgeon told me he didn’t want to aim for 20/20, I guess in case he overshot? At any rate, I know that many people in the US would say they don’t have any disabilities but they’re wearing glasses they need to see and navigate the world.
I’m glad to hear that your vision can be improved with glasses, dear Elizabeth. 👓 I’ve had low vision since birth, and I truly wish glasses could help improve mine too. But my doctor said there aren’t any glasses that can currently help with my eyesight. Enjoy reading, it’s a gift you’ve been given! ❤
I am so sorry that there are not any glasses that can help with your eyesight, Ngoc! I do hope that some will be invented someday. I will remember you today as I read, and remember not to take this gift for granted ♥️
Elizabeth, I have them too. I wear transition lenses. It helps me go outside to reduce brightness. When I go back into a building or house, it temporarily gets darker for a few seconds.
As a child, I lived in farm country, and we had a well with clear cold water. I can remember friends who lived in town standing at the kitchen sink drinking glass after glass because our water tasted so much better than what they got at home–“town water” just wasn’t as good. I’ve been fortunate to live in places with really good water, most of my years from a sole source aquifer.
Like many people, I carry a water bottle with me pretty much everywhere I go. I like my water with ice and top the bottle off regularly throughout the day. I wake in the night with a dry mouth and take a couple of sips of water that feel so, so good. I take a break from hard hot sweaty work in the garden and chug that cold liquid down my dry throat. I stop on a bike ride to rest my legs and drink some water.
I can’t think of it as ordinary. Water is extraordinary. We’re mostly made of water. We’re so lucky to have it on this planet so that life exists. Agua es vida, as Joseph says.
I got to smell a word I learned from you, Barb, yesterday. Petrichor. It was so nice, 0.30 of an inch. That dark cloud finally parked over our place for a bit.
Ordinary? I don’t find too many things “ordinary”.
I may taken things for granted and not appreciate it in the moment. Everything I have has passed through many hands and is something that I could not produce all by myself. Even the t shirt that I am wearing is far from ordinary. I looked up the word enhanced “intensify, increase, or further improve the quality”.
So, for some of the extraordinary things that enhance my life are things like, my coffee machine, my car, my musical instruments, my bicycles (for sure), my super comfy mattress, my quality footwear, and the list goes on and on. These all enhance my life. They add to it. They are not totally necessary. Well, maybe my car is necessary.
Now, these are all things. The simplest (again, not ordinary) thing is kindness. Being kind to one another is something that can add so much. A simple kindness can save a life.
Freely flowing, clean water. I’ve lived in situations where I had to go fetch water in buckets, sterilize it, and manually heat it if I wanted a hot shower. Where there was only so much water storage, so I had to be very careful with bathing and excess. I’ve gotten sick from contaminated water. To think that our municipal water supply here, which arrives clean and which we filter, is ordinary; that the heat for the water comes automatically, and that there is enough water pressure for a bath or shower at will … that is a huge life enhancement! I have the luxury of not needing to set aside time to fetch and carry water, or to manually heat or sterilize it. It’s just there, thanks to our water infrastructure, the gift of mountain snowpack, and the people who work to keep it flowing and clear.
Drea, it’s interesting how things change. I remember hating reading at one point during my school days, because it was required. I only did it because it was good for me. Now that I’m an adult and have my life more established, it’s much easier to enjoy that with greater leisure time. It’s why I deeply value autonomy. The more we’re able to do the things we love and design our lives to our likings, the happier we’ll be.
“The more we’re able to do the things we love and design our lives to our likings, the happier we’ll be.” — Very much agree, Loc. I’m working on this very thing.
Having the privilege to have a simple 2015 vehicle. It allows me to travel to see the beauty in the land, enjoy visiting with others, and a means to be of service to others at work and volunteering.
It is a tie between coffee and A/C. Both could be considered luxuries for many in this world. I am blessed to think of them as simple. A simple cup of coffee is more than caffeine it is a morning ritual that includes morning prayer and reflection. A/C just makes me a sweeter person and more willing to accomplish things during the day.
Sleep! Sleep greatly enhances my daily life. I need a good 6.5 to 8 hours to fully function and be ready for the world. I don’t know how I used to survive on less when I was younger, but it was just that – surviving. These days I am all about thriving, and I love to sleep!
I’m not much of a napper, as I can’t really sleep as well at night if I do. But when I surfed a lot, some days I would be out there from 6am until lunchtime or even mid-afternoon. I remember grabbing late lunches with friends after we wore ourselves out and then going home and having a great nap.
Give yourself the gift of free bi-monthly inspiration including uplifting articles, diverse stories, supportive practices, videos, and more, delivered with heart to your inbox.
To wake up to another day and looking at the beautiful summer garden in front of our house is joy every day, it seems to be so ordinary to look at a garden while in fact, it is not. it gives joy right from the beginneing of the day to everyone who passes by and is open to perceive all this beauty nature offers so freely and abundantly. Thank you.
What comes to mind is a safe place to live without any real threats (that I know of) of severe weather except for possibly thunderstorms or hurricane. The news is so constant of severe weather lately. My son was stuck in NJ/NY due to severe flooding/rain. His flight got cancelled 2 days in a row while traveling back from Costa Rica. He ended up taking a train and even that was getting water inside. Just something ordinary that perhaps I don’t have to worry about.
Everything I think of as ‘ordinary’ that enhances my life,
is not really ordinary . . .
and I am happy that many others here
feel the same way.
It means
we are learning to be present and grateful.
A shower in the morning
is not ordinary to a prisoner in Alligator Alcatraz . . .
neither is a loaf of simple bread
to a family living in a refugee camp in Gaza.
The shelter of four walls
is no longer ordinary to families in eastern Texas,
I could go on,
but you get the point.
I will say
that having a washing machine
is an ordinary appliance in most homes in the developed world,
but never having had a washing machine
until I moved here 13 years ago,
I would have seen it as extraordinary.
Before that,
I had to rely on buckets, tubs
and laundromats.
I am now
living the life of luxury
having my very own washing machine.
Can you imagine the number of hours
washing clothes and sheets and towels by hand
actually takes?
There is nothing left of a day in which hand washing is done.
Going to the laundromat is much better,
but still can take half a day.
Now that i have my washing machine
I have the gift of many more hours of time . . .
to do the dishes,
work in the garden,
read a book,
or sit in the sun and do nothing at all.
That enhances my life
more than I can say . . .
the gift of time.
Washing Machine. The first appliance I ever bought was a used washing machine, around 27 years old I was. Thank you for the reminder of pre and post washing machine dear Sparrow.
Those were the days,
dear Joseph,
weren’t they? 🙂
My first thought was that what is ordinary for me is not ordinary in many parts of the world and so I give thanks that I awoke today with a roof over my head, food in the refrigerator, no serious storm warnings, etc., etc. I’m going to remind myself all day long that gratefulness enhances my daily life.
I have to say my morning coffee.
I am not a morning person.
Nor were my Mom, nor my two younger sisters.
My youngest sister, Jean,
even as a toddler, especially loved sleeping in.
My Dad, however, was very much a morning person.
I remember one Saturday morning, Dad cheerily popped into Jeans bedroom,
and began making humorous remarks.
With each joking comment, Jean, was becoming more and more irritated.
Finally, Jean looked at Dad, dead in the eye,
and said with the most grave tone a three year old could conjure,
If you’re going to fool, get out.
Jean was tough, even as a baby,
and having been chastised, Dad, got out.
So a morning cup of coffee,
to the females in my house,
has always been like a gift from heaven,
mellowing out even the most cranky among us.
Coffee enhances my life,
by bringing alertness each day to my sleepy self.
I used to drink tea,
but lately more and more,
I am grateful for the gift of morning coffee.
🥰🥰🥰
😂♥️
I recently found two things that bring both joy and challenge to my life. Reading Loc and his mom’s poems gives me so much joy and relaxation, while playing my Ocarina fills my day with a fun challenge. I wake up excited to play a new song and read a new poem. I even played a new song just yesterday.
Wishing you all a wonderful day full of happiness! 🌸
https://www.facebook.com/tram95ni/videos/712531661601716?idorvanity=9857003463
I am not a FB subscriber. Is there another way to view.
YRAM, Facebook will make it look like you have to get an account, but I think that if you just X out and ignore all of the notes saying to get an account, you should still be able to play the video, since Ngoc posted it publicly rather than just a a group of Facebook friends.
I’m so happy to see that you’re interested in listening to my music, Yram… unfortunately, I can’t post it on YouTube because of the copyright issue. Let’s me think another way to publish it somewhere else… Have a wonderful day filled with happiness… 🌸
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing
Thank you, Robin for listening to my music… have a wonderful day full of joy ☻
Is that really you,
dear Ngoc,
playing the Ocarina?
It’s a wonderful little instrument
and you play it so beautifully . . .
amazing,
the music you can make with a little piece of clay . . . ♥
Thank you so much, dear Sparrow 😍. I’m happy to see that you enjoyed my music… It’s wonderful for me to have a chance to share my music and have someone who likes it. 🍀 Have a fantastic day filled with wonders and peace!
Wow!! Thank you for sharing with us. I also had never seen an ocarina and really enjoyed how beautifully you played it.
Thank you so much, Sunnypati, for your inspired words. I’m happy for the opportunity to introduce ocarina to my community… 😊 Enjoy this beautiful day with your love ones.
Wow, thank you for sharing the beautiful video of you playing the ocarina, Ngoc! I did not even know what an ocarina was– it has such a haunting, beautiful sound!
Thank you for you ❤ on my video play the ocarina on Facebook, Elizabeth! It definitely inspired me to play more for the communities… 😊
My Ngoc, I’m glad you’ve found some things that make you happy. It’s reflective in you being able to sleep right through the night more consistently like when we first married. I’ll be happy to accompany you on your ocarina playing.
Thank you, my Loc for always support me with all your heart. Love U 😍
My glasses. I have had poor vision since 2nd grade, but with the help of glasses, I am able to see everything around me clearly and read with ease. Glasses seem so ordinary in this day and age and part of the world, but a thousand years ago, they would have been a complete miracle. And many people still lack access to be able to afford glasses or attain a pair of glasses specialized to their eyesight.
Yes! I got my first pair of glasses at age 5 and my eyes got worse and worse over the years. For those of you who are nearsighted, I was a -13 in one eye, -11 in the other. If my vision weren’t correctible I would have been deemed legally blind, unable to get a driver’s license. I was fortunate, truly, to get cataracts a few years ago and get surgery (right before COVID) that brought my eyes to 20/40. With glasses I’m at 20/20. Because my prescription was so, so high the surgeon told me he didn’t want to aim for 20/20, I guess in case he overshot? At any rate, I know that many people in the US would say they don’t have any disabilities but they’re wearing glasses they need to see and navigate the world.
I always donate my old pair when I go in for my eye exam and replace with a newer pair. Lions Eye is a great organization.
Yes, they are such a great organization!
I’m glad to hear that your vision can be improved with glasses, dear Elizabeth. 👓 I’ve had low vision since birth, and I truly wish glasses could help improve mine too. But my doctor said there aren’t any glasses that can currently help with my eyesight. Enjoy reading, it’s a gift you’ve been given! ❤
”Enjoy reading, it’s a gift you’ve been given!”
Thank you for this reminder,
dear Ngoc . . . ♥
I am so sorry that there are not any glasses that can help with your eyesight, Ngoc! I do hope that some will be invented someday. I will remember you today as I read, and remember not to take this gift for granted ♥️
Elizabeth, I have them too. I wear transition lenses. It helps me go outside to reduce brightness. When I go back into a building or house, it temporarily gets darker for a few seconds.
As a child, I lived in farm country, and we had a well with clear cold water. I can remember friends who lived in town standing at the kitchen sink drinking glass after glass because our water tasted so much better than what they got at home–“town water” just wasn’t as good. I’ve been fortunate to live in places with really good water, most of my years from a sole source aquifer.
Like many people, I carry a water bottle with me pretty much everywhere I go. I like my water with ice and top the bottle off regularly throughout the day. I wake in the night with a dry mouth and take a couple of sips of water that feel so, so good. I take a break from hard hot sweaty work in the garden and chug that cold liquid down my dry throat. I stop on a bike ride to rest my legs and drink some water.
I can’t think of it as ordinary. Water is extraordinary. We’re mostly made of water. We’re so lucky to have it on this planet so that life exists. Agua es vida, as Joseph says.
I got to smell a word I learned from you, Barb, yesterday. Petrichor. It was so nice, 0.30 of an inch. That dark cloud finally parked over our place for a bit.
Ordinary? I don’t find too many things “ordinary”.
I may taken things for granted and not appreciate it in the moment. Everything I have has passed through many hands and is something that I could not produce all by myself. Even the t shirt that I am wearing is far from ordinary. I looked up the word enhanced “intensify, increase, or further improve the quality”.
So, for some of the extraordinary things that enhance my life are things like, my coffee machine, my car, my musical instruments, my bicycles (for sure), my super comfy mattress, my quality footwear, and the list goes on and on. These all enhance my life. They add to it. They are not totally necessary. Well, maybe my car is necessary.
Now, these are all things. The simplest (again, not ordinary) thing is kindness. Being kind to one another is something that can add so much. A simple kindness can save a life.
Freely flowing, clean water. I’ve lived in situations where I had to go fetch water in buckets, sterilize it, and manually heat it if I wanted a hot shower. Where there was only so much water storage, so I had to be very careful with bathing and excess. I’ve gotten sick from contaminated water. To think that our municipal water supply here, which arrives clean and which we filter, is ordinary; that the heat for the water comes automatically, and that there is enough water pressure for a bath or shower at will … that is a huge life enhancement! I have the luxury of not needing to set aside time to fetch and carry water, or to manually heat or sterilize it. It’s just there, thanks to our water infrastructure, the gift of mountain snowpack, and the people who work to keep it flowing and clear.
I love books. Reading helps me improve my Vietnamese and learn new things.
I agree, Loc. I could spend a few days a week just reading!
Drea, it’s interesting how things change. I remember hating reading at one point during my school days, because it was required. I only did it because it was good for me. Now that I’m an adult and have my life more established, it’s much easier to enjoy that with greater leisure time. It’s why I deeply value autonomy. The more we’re able to do the things we love and design our lives to our likings, the happier we’ll be.
“The more we’re able to do the things we love and design our lives to our likings, the happier we’ll be.” — Very much agree, Loc. I’m working on this very thing.
A container that holds my precious nourishment. If it is homemade, decorative or has a history, then it really enhances my life.
Yram, your words remind me that I want to add to my collection of special vessels. They really do make a difference.
Having the privilege to have a simple 2015 vehicle. It allows me to travel to see the beauty in the land, enjoy visiting with others, and a means to be of service to others at work and volunteering.
Mine is 2007,
dear Carla,
and I dread the day I have to give it up.
I couldn’t have stated its value
any better. . . ♥
Yes Sparrow, cars are a kinda like wings that help us sail on land🦅💕
It is a tie between coffee and A/C. Both could be considered luxuries for many in this world. I am blessed to think of them as simple. A simple cup of coffee is more than caffeine it is a morning ritual that includes morning prayer and reflection. A/C just makes me a sweeter person and more willing to accomplish things during the day.
Dieng, I struggle with hot weather, so I love AC. Stepping into a house or building with that feels really comfortable.
Sleep! Sleep greatly enhances my daily life. I need a good 6.5 to 8 hours to fully function and be ready for the world. I don’t know how I used to survive on less when I was younger, but it was just that – surviving. These days I am all about thriving, and I love to sleep!
Sunnypatti, I love sleeping too. I feel refreshed after a good night sleep in the morning.
We have to get adequate rest to feel refreshed. I feel refreshed right now!
A nap is right up there along a good, restful, sleep.
I’m not much of a napper, as I can’t really sleep as well at night if I do. But when I surfed a lot, some days I would be out there from 6am until lunchtime or even mid-afternoon. I remember grabbing late lunches with friends after we wore ourselves out and then going home and having a great nap.