Thursday, Sep 8, 2016

I find some days are much harder to write a blog post than others. It seems I am in a routine of sorts and I don’t think my current routine creates interesting reading.  Basically it’s the same stuff…go to the market, meet some friends, grab some lunch, walk around, work on my business, it’s raining or it’s not, blah blah blah.

I am committed to blog about each of my days through my first year of living in Ecuador. Day 240 today. It’s already been a minute, huh. I think a certain reality or awareness is beginning to present itself to me…the mundane, or routine, or just plain uneventful activities of life happen anywhere and everywhere.

This isn’t a bad thing; it’s just a normal thing…activities that need to be done over and over and over again. It is a very real part of living. When these are the only things being done in a day, and the day seems absent of a new experience, then, for me, it feels as if there is nothing noteworthy to blog about. And in that statement is my answer.

If I am present where I am, and who I’m with, and in what I’m doing, this will always create a new experience for me. Going to the market is going to the market…but it’s not. It’s a different day with different people who move in and out of my sphere of contact. Even if the people were exactly the same, their feelings, moods, and emotions wouldn’t be.

Our challenge becomes, can we be conscious enough to notice the experience we are having? Can we be an active observer of ourselves moving through our routine? What do we see?  What are we actually experiencing?

Today I went to the market. I saw a little Ecuadorian girl, maybe 12 months old sitting in one of those round, walker-type things that let her legs “stand” and her toes touch the ground. It had a tray in front of her for her snack to eat and toy to play with. Her silk-like black  hair was gathered up into four separate “pigtails” on top of her head, each with a brightly colored bead.

The aisle was crowded so I was waiting for people in front of me to move. I looked to my left and I saw her looking up at me. She was in her walker against the produce table on her left and a block wall behind her. She was out of the flow of people, and she watched all of us walk by. I think she was very present in the moment. I wonder when it is we so easily lose that ability?

What is she observing?

What is she observing?

I would have liked to have taken her picture for my blog, but I dunno, just seemed creepy so I kept walking. Instead, I’ll leave you with a pic of a cute grandma I caught “observing” in the bus terminal.

Chau.