November 5, 2013
Living the Glad Life
Sometimes trying to live a glad life takes you places where
you are not quite comfortable.
This morning I am riding The Crescent from Birmingham, Alabama to New
Orleans, Louisiana. My train car is half full, so almost all of us have window
seats. Fall in the South is a wonder
to behold and I’m excited about the next seven hours and the wash of color that
awaits me.
This is not my usual mode of travel, but I decided to listen
to that adventuresome spirit that I have tried so hard to ignore for half a
century, to experience something new and different: a solo trip on a train. I’m
headed to a conference on dyslexia, so it’s a useful trip, too. I can’t change all of my stripes at the
same time.
I recently read about a great experiment of awareness that
asked me to place my hands in my lap in my usual way. For me that was right
hand over left. To feel that then
to take my hands away from each other, experience that and then to place them
in my lap again in the opposite position. Which felt more natural? Which felt more alive? What
was more alive, even a little uncomfortable? For me, I felt a little off when my hands were not in their
usual position. It did make me
feel more alive and aware. I’m
hoping the same from this trip.
“You came and sang a
song over me.”
“Feels like I’m living
now, for the very first time.
Feels like I’m breathing, Feels like I’m moving, for the very first
time.”
Third Day “Born Again” from their Revelation album.
