All Squares are Created Equal
January has 31 squares on the calendar. All squares are created equal and we’re the ones who make some squares more special than others. We tend to make that first square in January special because it can be kind of like the starting gate at a race or the start of a sports game. There’s such energy in “the beginning” of just about everything. But now that it’s close to the end of January I’ve been taking a second look at the squares that are left and I’ve decided to keep that fresh start feeling going in them.
All it takes is a little focus on the wonder of the ordinary. Today I watched an interview on Oprah’s new channel OWN. She interviewed Mark Nepo who wrote The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have. One of his quotes was, “The key to knowing joy is being easily pleased.” I think that’s the key to living each square filled with energy and awe. Have you ever heard the term, easy date? Let’s be easy dates! Let’s slow down enough in the course of each square and make sure we get every ounce of love and joy we can sop up before the next square comes.
Mark reminded us to want less and love more of what we have now. He said, “Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond.” and “God is under the porch and on the mountain top.” We are immersed in a miracle called life and as humans we can get buried temporarily in our problems and forget the truth, but if we can pause and breathe we give ourselves a chance to remember we are loved and life is good.
Be easily pleased in the squares you have left; easily pleased starting with yourself and then your family, your friends, your country and your world. Start now to see good more quickly than you see wrong, understand more quickly than you judge, relax more easily than you get upset and laugh more effortlessly than you complain.
Every square can be January first if we practice being thankful for what we have, loving who we’re with, adoring who we are and spreading light by being kind to everyone we come in contact with.
Have you ever noticed it’s easier to have happy squares when you get enough sleep? Let’s be selfish about getting the sleep we need. Let’s be firm about a bedtime that gives us the rest we need. We can’t start our squares with that fresh start feeling if we didn’t go to bed at the right time in the last square. All squares are created equal, but it’s totally up to us how we’ll get the most out of them.