Not long ago, after I finished my work for the day, I took a walk along the country road I live on. There are few people or cars on the road. I usually sing when I’m walking, and I don’t need to hold it in. I give myself over to it, I sing at volume, and I enjoy myself enormously.
Something felt different that day. Ordinarily, when I start singing on a walk, I find myself swimming in a feeling of well-being. It’s the well-being all of us have in us all the time, but that can be veiled depending on how wrapped up we are in our thinking at any given moment.
I heard my voice singing, but the instant revelation of well-being was absent. That seemed strange to me, because that shift is usually as quick as it is complete.
Somehow, I sensed what was missing. I simply wasn’t as engaged with singing as I usually am. At that point, I heard very clearly the sure, small voice of my own wisdom.
This is what it said: “Fall in love with every note.”
Bang! Instantly, my own well-being was apparent to me. That’s really all it took. I’d become momentarily disengaged from the life right in front of me. The second I re-engaged, in other words, the second I fell in love with what I was doing, my perception of well-being was restored. (It hadn’t really gone anywhere. It just seemed to be missing.)
It was interesting to me how this insight worked its way into my life in a bigger way. A day later, I was thinking about the work ahead of me to promote the book I’ve just finished, The Slightly Older Person’s Guide to Graceful Aging. That sort of promotion is work I’ve convinced myself I don’t like. In other words, it’s work that, in the past, I’ve resisted, so I’ve had difficulty fully engaging with it. Then, there was that voice again. It was essentially the same message: “Fall in love with every breath, with every word, with every action.”
How did the tone of an activity I’ve always resisted shift so completely? This is what occurred to me: I love this piece of work that was breathed into life through me. Why wouldn’t I love everything to do with bringing it to the world?
Essentially, what I’m suggesting is, when we allow ourselves to fall in love with whatever we’re doing, we get to experience the love we’re made of. There is simply nothing to resist.
After all, this is your own precious life. Why would you not fall in love with every breath, every word, every note, every action?
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