Charms of the Week #9: Bothering with Beauty and Joy

1. Why bother: With beauty, enchantment, magic? I told my husband that I thought I wouldn’t write a Charms post this week and maybe ever again (yes, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass for sweeping melodrama). What difference does it make to anyone anyway?

His typically wise, spot on reaction was disappointment for me that I wasn’t going to make the effort for myself to focus on and appreciate the sparkly (my word) gifts in my life this week.  

Oh … Right!

Writing these posts heightens my awareness of what gives life, my life anyway, meaning. A sense of possibility, beauty, generosity, humor, creativity, joy. Oh, and delicious food!

So, I’ve reread my previous Charms posts and reminded myself. I still want to cultivate year-round that special shine we ”save” for the holidays. But I’m not saving it. Or myself. I’m going to find and slather the joyous stuff over the whole timeline of my life. And share for anyone else out there who’s trawling for enchantment.    

2) The beauty of the sea: Went for a gorgeous, end-of-winter walk with the fam to Hammonassett Beach State Park. Walking two miles of sandy beach while picking up countless seashells as the salty air breezes over you casts a unique spell.

It may not be the wide open ocean, but for those of us in Connecticut, it’s a gift to have this marine world in our midst. www.ct.gov/dep/hammonasset.

And, yes, my week was twice blessed by the ocean as I made yet another pilgrimage to the wondrous Mystic Aquarium. Watching the playful, graceful and gorgeous whales for half an hour completely shifts my mindset. As does petting the sleek sting rays that sometimes delightfully leap up a little to say “hi.” Magic. www.mysticaquarium.org.

3) Helpful reminder: “The trouble is you think you have time.” –Buddhist saying

4) Another reminder: When exactly do we have time for beauty and joy? Remember that Pulitzer prizewinning article about the hordes who rushed past virtuoso Joshua Bell’s performance in the D.C. metro station (See Flashmob of 1 post; Gene Weingarten, “Pearls Before Breakfast,” The Washington Post, April 8, 2007)?

Well, all I know is if I don’t smell the roses, listen to the music, do the dance and bake the cookies (and eat one) NOW, I don’t know when I will get another chance. JUST DO IT.  

5) Cookie devotion: Yes! Yes! It’s time to fire up my ol’ 70s, unrenovated lair of a kitchen again and whip up some cookies.

To bathe the house in the aroma of butter and sugar and possibly chocolate. To fill the cookie plate for my family with love-filled confections. And, yes, to get back in the practice of wrapping a plate of cookies for the firefighters or the refugees learning English at Jubilee House or the House of Bread or the friend having surgery.

I’m recommitting myself to my holiday practice of baking and regularly heading out on missions of cookie delivery to people who might like a homemade treat. That may mean a whole lotta baking!

Enjoy ...