There’s magic waiting outside your home or office!  Sometimes when we’re really tired, depressed or irritable, we want nothing more than to shut the door to the outside world and everyone in it.  If we’re mad, we may want to even slam that door shut and turn the lock!  We want the world to just GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE!

That’s the last thing we should do, though.  If we do that, we’re left alone to just stew in our own thoughts. Not good!

Even though it may be the last thing that we want to do, we will almost always benefit from stepping outside to see what’s happening in the world.  A brisk walk, and an attitude of openness to what we might find, can magically turn things around.

Let me tell you what we found outside our door last Saturday morning!  I need to do a disclaimer, and tell you that neither my husband nor I were in a bad mood, but if we had been, I think it would have dissolved instantly because of what we saw and experienced.

We first went to our local farmers’ market, with its wonderful variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.  In addition to these, there are friendly farmers and happy customers of all ages and cultures, meandering up and down the colorful rows.  Can you see how this would lift anyone’s spirits?

There are always musicians there, but this time, there was something special.  A tall man was playing a guitar and singing a happy song, and in front of him there was a very little girl, of maybe 3 or 4 yrs. old, dancing in circles, and clapping her hands with sheer delight!  Can you picture that scene without having a smile come to your lips?  I doubt it!

We finally pulled ourselves away and finished our shopping.  It was time to head back to the car, which was parked a couple blocks away.  We had just walked across the street from the market, and suddenly heard the clear sound of parrots calling to each other.  Now this was in the city, on a block filled with houses!  We stopped to see where the sound was coming from.

Sitting on a chain link fence, right in front of us, was a beautiful male parrot, and in a tree a few feet away, there was his even more colorful mate!  Luckily, my husband had his cell phone in his pocket and snapped this picture of the first parrot.  The owner came out to visit with us, while we were standing there admiring his birds.  He told us the story of how they came to be his.  He was obviously so proud of his beautiful birds and happy to share them with us.  Another woman came across the street, stopped to enjoy the birds, and soon joined our conversation.

In time, we told them good-bye and continued our walk back to our car.  We then drove over to a local Trader Joe store, and after picking out our groceries, we stood talking with a friendly checker.

She asked what we were planning to do with our weekend, and I told her that we were celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary that day.  She smiled, and immediately asked me what my favorite color was.  When I told her blue, she said she’d be right back.

She walked away, and returned a short time later with a beautiful bunch of blue iris.  She handed them to me, and said, with a big smile on her face, “Happy Anniversary!”  My husband and I both spontaneously gave her big hugs.  She was a complete stranger, but we had connected in a very happy way.

None of these were extravagant things, but can you feel how magical they were?  All we had to do was to walk out our front door and be really present to what was just waiting for us to come and enjoy!  What’s outside your door?  Don’t withdraw from the world!  Go out for a morning stroll, and see what you can find!  Just watch your stress melt away!

Until next time,

Linda

2 Comments

  • Thank you, Teri. I’m so glad that you liked it. It was such a great morning! We hadn’t anticipated any of the things that happened, but we were out and about — and open to all of them. Thanks for your good wishes!

    Linda

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