Day 31: To Pay Attention: Our Most Important Work

 

I read kind of a funny and sad quote recently that said something like, "the difference between Christmas for a child and an adult is you're so well-behaved when you're curled up on the couch reading a book, but do that as an adult and you're just rude and anti-social."

I've been having a hard time with this assignment because, like most of us, it's really hard to remember what made me come alive as a child. The expectations for adults is very different than for a child...for good reason. But what happens when all those messages of growing up and making good choices and being responsible come at the cost of a lost imagination? 

As a child, music and melodies would ignite entire worlds into my imagination. Flying and soaring, dancing on keys, playing out all sorts of emotions. 

Now, when I sit down at the piano, it takes awhile for the dust to settle. Eventually I find her, that little Janell who just wanted everybody to get along. As I play the notes, some of the tension is still there and some is resolved, and bits of imagination come back and remind me of what's possible.