Nancy and I like to take walks together. A number of years
ago, I realized I have a hard time talking about my day when I walk in the
door. It’s weird, I know, but for some reason I need time to get there.
What’s worse is, sometimes I don’t even know what I’m thinking until it comes out of my mouth. I may have feelings churning around inside that I’m not even aware of until we talk through it together.
So, if I walk in the door and plop down in front of the TV, not only does my wife not hear from me, I don’t even hear from myself.
I’d like to say we walk all the time, but unfortunately, we left life, busyness and sometimes apathy get in the way. But we’ve started walking again, and it’s good.
Yesterday, we began the big loop around the neighborhood we normally take when we had to turn around and head home early. So we were walking in the opposite direction of our normal circuit.
We had only walked a little ways when I looked at Nancy and said, “Have you seen that house before?” It was a unique house that we had walked by tons of times but never really “saw” it. Then it happened again, and again.
Walking the opposite direction gave us a new view of the neighborhood. We saw things we hadn’t noticed before.
There’s a great scene in Dead Poets Society when Robin Williams has his students stand on his desk, in an attempt to get them to look at the world differently. There are things we do every day simply because they are a part of our routine, things we think we know simply because we are so familiar with them.
I wonder though, what in my life needs reevaluation. What habits or routines have I settled into need a different look? What am I not doing that I should be? Where have I grown complacent?
What’s worse is, sometimes I don’t even know what I’m thinking until it comes out of my mouth. I may have feelings churning around inside that I’m not even aware of until we talk through it together.
So, if I walk in the door and plop down in front of the TV, not only does my wife not hear from me, I don’t even hear from myself.
I’d like to say we walk all the time, but unfortunately, we left life, busyness and sometimes apathy get in the way. But we’ve started walking again, and it’s good.
Yesterday, we began the big loop around the neighborhood we normally take when we had to turn around and head home early. So we were walking in the opposite direction of our normal circuit.
We had only walked a little ways when I looked at Nancy and said, “Have you seen that house before?” It was a unique house that we had walked by tons of times but never really “saw” it. Then it happened again, and again.
Walking the opposite direction gave us a new view of the neighborhood. We saw things we hadn’t noticed before.
There’s a great scene in Dead Poets Society when Robin Williams has his students stand on his desk, in an attempt to get them to look at the world differently. There are things we do every day simply because they are a part of our routine, things we think we know simply because we are so familiar with them.
I wonder though, what in my life needs reevaluation. What habits or routines have I settled into need a different look? What am I not doing that I should be? Where have I grown complacent?
We can walk the same path day after day, but
we may not truly know it, until we turn around and walk the other way.
No comments:
Post a Comment