The Lessons Learned In A Snowstorm

As must be obvious, I'm a Canadian. My parents immigrated from the Phillipines when they were in their late teens, and they began University at the U of A, where they met. My mom has a wonderful tale to tell about her arrival in Canada. From the tropics, she arrived in Canada in the middle of December - at a balmy temperature of -50 C, or -58 F. 

Since then, I'm glad to say that I haven't personally experienced -50 C. While I might gripe about the cold a few times and whine about how my toes are going to fall off (I need new boots), I prefer the cold to insane heat. You can always put on more clothes, but you can only strip down so much before you get arrested for inappropriate exposure.

Plus, there's snow.

My bedroom has a huge window in the southern wall, and I'm usually blessed with views of open sky and the huge pine tree in front of my neighbor's house. Today, there was a mini-snowstorm. A bit of huge snowflakes, a whole bunch of wind, and a lot of activity.

I'm listening to Death Cab For Cutie's Something About Airplanes album, and watching the snow. If I had to say anything about lessons learned from a snowstorm - as I usually look at nature's actions as a great teacher - I would have to say that taking the time to look deeper and look with an open mind are the lessons that a snowstorm can teach.

When we think of snowstorms, we usually see a gray sky, a gloomy atmosphere and grumbling, bundled-up people trying to get home. But when you put music to a snowstorm, it seems as though they're like a ballet of white fairies dancing madly.

I'm going to go on a limb here - so please bear with me and just keep in mind I'm not crazy?

Take a deep breath and imagine this with me...

There are snowflakes being pushed around by the wind. They're flying past at speeds most likely possible to only the fastest of jets. They fly around, being pushed and shoved around, and it looks hectic and unorganized and, for lack of a better word, painful.

Then, at just the right moment, the wind dies dow, and we can see for the first time all the little snowflakes just floating there. They're all just sitting there, almost completely still. It's beautiful and quiet. There's a sense of complete peace that floats into the room. It's like you could reach out and talk to them - they're almost like people.

In a sense, it's like they're telling us to stop once in a while. Stop rushing here, rushing there, running forth, running back, not paying attention to the world around us. There are many fantastic things that go on in the world - little beauties that show up everyday. If we always just keep rushing our lives along, pretty soon, we're going to end up smack against the end of it and wondering what happened to that Golden Age we were promised.

It's an art, and it's something that's hard to master, but if we could even just take a few minutes a day to stop rushing and to start appreciating our lives, to start looking for small joys, I think the world could be a little better of a place. If you wouldn't mind, try this:

Start your trip to work/school/where-ever you go frequently a bit earlier tomorrow - or as soon as you like. Walk slowly and look around. Really look - don't just cast your eye to various places just to make sure you don't get run over. Pull your thoughts out of the future and dedicate yourself to noticing the buildings and people around you. What's new? What didn't you notice before? What do you notice about things you've already noticed? Is someone always at the same corner you are? Are they smiling? Do they try to talk to you?

I think one of the reasons why children are so beautiful (and this is rare for me) is that they look at everything in a new way. Even if they're talking the same route day after day, they can always find something new and refreshing.

I'd like to share something with you - and this is just on impulse.

I found a game about a week ago - a fun, quick game. It's all about building little machines to get a ball into a target zone. It's hard to do some of the levels because it's simply just a strange challenge.

The huge thing for me when I played this game is the challenge it provides the player - Think Outside The Box. Really. It's easier said than done.

Try this out: Fantastic Contraption

Learn From Everything, Learn Everywhere.

Namaste,

Clarise