Serenity

Picture this- I am sitting on a ridiculously comfortable chair, placed just to the side of the screened-in back patio porch of my parent’s house. I think, “Damn, I am lucky bastard.” as the afternoon sun takes on this beautiful golden-orange hue and rays of light, filtered through pine needles, splay across the yard and illuminate the walls of my peaceful enclosure. Warm, gentle breezes carry the sweet songs of birds, but also the foreboding scent of pollen, instilling in me the premonitions of an early spring battle where allergy warfare keeps me dug in the trenches of red eyes and throat scratch. Any silly fears of allergies (or, really, any other silly fears at that matter) would not have gained any traction here; there is simply too much beauty that surrounds me, mesmerizing each of my senses on the most tranquil of levels. I sip a cold beer and for some bazaar reason I suddenly become inspired to write...

A wise man would have simply sat there and soaked in all the beauty that nature could hurl at him; but, what do I do? I pick up my laptop and begin typing away. You would think this is what I wrote, but I assure you it was not. I began with some absurdly heady philosophical blog post about meaning, how we derive it and what happens when it disappears. I get a third of the way through and the fire goes out. I sit there for some time waiting for my mind to fire back up, but it never does. Really, this isn’t the worst place to have a mental block, far from it in fact...

Just a week ago, I was back in Chicago having somehow survived the worse winter I ever hope to endure. Sure, mixing meds and alcohol for inspiration, while I frantically type on my overheated, wary laptop makes sense when it is 20 degrees Fahrenheit, windy and every living and non-living thing alike are caked in frozen precipitation. But, why in the hell am I doing in it now when I should be telling my mind to take a hike so that the rest of my senses and spirit can take some reprieve? Good question. Too bad I didn’t think of it until just now- three days later when it is dark, cooler and damp outside…

So then, let me be slightly pissed at myself for not appreciating what was sitting right there in front of me at the time. Sure, it was appreciated briefly, but not before that overbearing mind took hold and pulled me away to that abstracted, unnatural realm, where I spend far too much time. Simply put, serenity was there, but I would not have it…

Herein lays the defect of human nature I believe we all carry. Serenity is always present, but it often remains eschewed by our troubled minds, frantic emotions and misplaced direction. Take any healthy practice you enjoy- physical exercise, sports, yoga, meditation, prayer, reading, music, art or just simply, relaxation. What do all these activities have in common? They turn our minds off. Not the entire mind, or the lights would go out. These necessary moments of distraction turn off the silly, frantic, rambling, encumbering parts that keep us from being ourselves and enjoying all the life that surrounds us in the realm of serenity…