Pay attention

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak....

~ Mary Oliver

I'm reading They Will Inherit the Earth by John Dear (2018).  He is basically saying, "Pay attention to Mother Earth," as in this quote:

"Defending Mother Earth in this time of unparalleled corporate greed, imperial military might, and human-made catastrophic climate change is a matter of life and death.  For some of us, death will come sooner rather than later, in the form of horrific storms, mudslides, floods, tornadoes, fires, and drought.  For others, death will come at the hands of the multinational corporations and their government-backed death squads who destroy the earth, steal its resources, crush the poor, and kill their advocates" (p. 60).

John Dear also writes:

"We have now become the ancient people who ate and drank and went about their business while Noah boarded his ark as the rains began to fall" (p. 48).

What's happening to us?

"The last few years have easily been the hottest on record.  Each year the record is broken all over again.  We have witnessed unprecedented hurricanes, tornadoes, superstorms, rainfall, floods, tsunamis, fires, and droughts.  The polar ice caps and glaciers are not just melting, they are disappearing.  The global temperature has now risen about one degree Celsius (over the last hundred years), and already drastic changes are under way" (pp. 45-46).

It has only gotten worse since this book was published in 2018.

Meditating on a year's worth of good memories

In December 2018, my friend Donna and I each bought a jar with a lid because we had found the suggestion above, which says:

"This January, start the year with an empty jar.  Each week add a note with a good thing that happened.  On New Year's Eve empty the jar and read about the amazing year you had."

Donna followed through; I didn't.  I printed the picture to put in that jar, but I never took the time to meditate on the good things happening in 2019.  I asked Donna if she had read her notes on New Year's Eve this year, as planned.  She said she read them within a couple of days of New Year's Eve.  Donna recommends being regular, if you decide to do something like this.  She wrote on Sundays every week, and she put the date on each note.  She isn't planning to continue writing the notes this year.  Neither am I, even though I still have that empty jar with a printout of the illustrated directions still in it.

And yet ... and yet ... I saved this note from a Kindle book I've already read this year:  Ten Keys to Happier Living: A Practical Science-Based Handbook for Happiness ~ by Vanessa King, 2016, self-help, rated 9/10.

"Spending a few moments each day or each week writing things down we've appreciated, enjoyed and were grateful for can have a powerful impact. ... When we write, whether by hand or electronically, we engage more of our senses and focus more" (loc. 4377, 4382).

One of those ten keys to happier living is AWARENESS.  Spending a whole year looking for the GOOD things in your life is surely a good way to focus your awareness and become more positive.  And happier.

Here are all ten keys to happier living, for those who want to know:

1. Giving
2. Relating
3. Exercising
4. Awareness
5. Trying Out
6. Direction
7. Resilience
8. Emotions
9. Acceptance
10. Meaning

You know, it's not too late to start noticing the good things that happen.  Start today, and end a year from now.  That would work.  You don't need a new year or a new day to start over.  You only need a new mindset.