Today is the first day of 2023! Where did the time go? This has been a common mantra from many of my friends. I had such grand aspirations to write daily blog posts over the past 2 years. Although it didn’t happen on this website, I was writing elsewhere. I plan to pick up where I left off.
Yesterday I spotted a shiny penny on the ground. I walked over to it, bent down, picked it up, and stuck it in my mouth.
No! That didn’t happen. Over the past 2 years the Covid-19 pandemic has brought back many of my childhood neuroses. With all the progress I made toward “normalcy” these past decades, I’m back to being a germaphobe again!
Back to the penny though, I don’t see many people picking up coins anymore. Is it purely the fear of germs? Or is it that the value of the coin is not worth the effort of taking the time to pick it up from the ground?
I can almost hear my grandmother’s voice muttering under her breath about the new generation who doesn’t value money the same way her generation did.
I feel there is magic in noticing the world around us. Many of us are so wrapped up in our inner world and electronic devices in our hands that we might miss the beautiful swarm of butterflies in front of us, or the picture perfect flowers, or even money right under our feet.
When I was a child, I went to the circus with my school. I walked into an empty bathroom, took care of business, and while I was standing in front of an offwhite colored sink lathering up my hands with grainy soap as course as sand, I looked down and discovered a $50 bill stuck to my shoe. I was exhilarated. I peeled the legal tender from the edge of my checkered Vans and washed it in the sink. I patted it dry with a paper towel and stuck it in my velcro wallet.
Ever since that experience, I tend to scan the ground when I’m walking. I mostly notice the variety of shoe brands, and old globs of gum melted into the sidewalk, but every once in a while, I’ll spot a shiny disc of metal. I tend to smile as I walk over to it and think of how lucky I am.
Is it random chance? Or is the universe reminding my there is still magic in the realm and I live in a world full of abundance?
I choose to see the magic in the world!
Cheers!
TofuAlan