30 September, 2010

Subtle Changes

There is a point in everyone’s life when it happens – that realization that enough is enough… Something has to give and it is not going to be me!

I have been slowly reaching that point.  Okay, reaching that point took a lot longer than I expected, but reach it I did.  

I have started making subtle changes.  

Minor changes that might not make a ripple in the grand scheme of things but that are making differences in my life.  

I moved a CD player into the bathroom.  No longer do I listen to myself attempt to figure out why people behave as they do and make the choices that they do; instead, I spend my shower listening to concertos and symphonies.  The sounds of the flutes and the oboes greet me as I step out of the shower ready to start a new day.  

I started taking breathing exercises more seriously.  

Noting the thought process that I gravitate to out of habit, I now nip them in the bud – choosing to think other thoughts and engage in more fun thinking.  

Last night I spent a few minutes digging out books by SARK.  If there is a writer that can inspire it is SARK – and one need not do more than open the pages and see the colors and pictures to feel the creative juices start to flow.  

This morning I found myself dancing to the classical music streaming from the bathroom, sending my daughter into fits of laughter.  “Is that ballet?”  For a student of classical Russian ballet, my 2 years of American ballet for fun training are quite amusing to watch.  I didn’t dance for her though, I did it for me.  There is something about the classical that asks me to move… and just wait until I pull out the New Orleans and Swing Jazz!!

The words asking to pour through my fingers are more fiction than not and more poetic than essay – Subtle changes, but changes all the same.  

I have taken on more volunteer work; while I am also spending more time considering my professional ambitions.

And I am more apt to challenge my creativity and mind than I have been in years.  

Subtle changes – the changes that occur as September closes and October begins.  

The changes that are illustrated with the golden streaks that begin to appear on the leaves and in the trees – the cooling of the nights while the days remain warm – the absence of humidity in the DC area – and the shift of the wind from the south to the north.

The subtle, the sublime, the shifting of the seasons; the changes within a life.  

 

7 comments:

LesleyG said...

Change by choice is so refreshing, isn't it?!

dadshouse said...

Music in the bathroom sounds like a wonderful idea! Short of a CD player, does singing in the shower count?

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi TE .. sounds as though 'things are a'changing' .. love the way you're lightening your day and giving you and your daughter more laughs ..

Excellent to do more volunteer work - you're right I must do some too ..

and change - allowing ourselves to change and evolve .. that's the key .. great post - thanks .. Hilary

giulietta nardone said...

Hi TE,

A great post on change. It's the subtle changes that make the difference and accumulate into the big ones. It's pretty rare to just go out and make a huge change in one's life. As Sark says (and I've got almost all her books too) make micromovements.

Sometimes we scare ourselves silly when we attempt to do something huge out of the blue.

I like your shower with music idea. That's very cool. Now you've mentioned wind too. Another fine blogger mentioned wind in her post and it got me thinking about how much I like wind, etc.

Can you imagine a world without wind, ever?

Poetic fiction. Now that's a new category I'd like to read!

Enjoy.

Giulietta

Patty - Why Not Start Now? said...

Subtle is sublime, and thank you for reminding us of that. So often we want to rush ahead and do it/change it/have it all now. OK, I admit I get caught in that trap. But yeah, baby steps, or micromovements, are what it's all about. Oh - and I took a class with SARK earlier this year!

Lance said...

Mmmm...subtle changes...

So good, and especially if these are in the direction of your heart strings (which is just feels so much like that as I read here today).

Keep dancing...

Tess The Bold Life said...

All real change is slow. Love these especially the breathing. Me too!