3 Things We Take Advantage of Daily
A moment to pause and reflect.
Before I get into it, I’d like to skip mundane aspects of life like breathing air, drinking water, and good health. Those things are truly vital to how we experience life, but I’d like to focus on small things we fail to fully appreciate daily that enrich our lives if we just take the time to let them sink in.
Music
Many agree music makes life more colorful. It puts us in good moods. What we like is a reflection of who we are and what we do while listening. It adds a little liveliness to what would otherwise be an ordinary experience.
I love a wide variety of music.
What I jam out to in the gym isn’t what I like to dance to, but it serves a purpose. Focus calls for a different genre than chilling with friends. Likewise, I feel more like a chef in the kitchen to the tune of a different beat. Karaoke with friends wouldn’t be the same without the classics.
I’m sure you get me.
But…
Only a handful of songs tug on my heartstrings. I mean pieces that arouse unmistakeable emotion. You may think music is only something we experience with our ears, but that’s not true. It evokes emotion in the right context. Good and bad.
Carnival of the Animals; The Swan is one of those pieces. I enjoy it so much because it has such a depth when you listen with a careful ear.
The melody is sweet, but tragic — in a soothing sort of way. It resembles life and humanity in many ways.
The melancholy violin taking center stage, tells a story of mourning. Slow and intentional. The accompanying piano tells the tale of a more upbeat and delightful daydream. One of wonder and rhythmic mystery.
Both instruments make this piece what it is; giving me a conflicted feeling. I can equate it with the concept of loss.
Experiencing a loss leads to so much heartbreak and bewilderment. The loss could be anything. A relative, a relationship, an ability to do something, etc. On the other side of such a loss is what we learn and what we gain. That’s the narrative Carnival of the Animals; The Swan follows.
The end of the piece is what ties it all together as the somber violin slows down while the playful piano gives a last word of hope. It’s composition truly is unique and captivating.
Taking a moment to absorb and realize different components of a song (lyrics, melody, beat, and tempo) brings us back to who we are in a way that stimulates us. That stimulation can lend itself to inspiration, motivation, confidence and positivity.
It’d be a shame to deprive ourselves of the beauty in music if we don’t let our minds and hearts join our ears in listening too.
Home Cooking
Many of us hardly have time to cook homemade meals, especially more than a few times a week. It takes real effort to make simple yet satisfying meals. If you’re like me, it’s easy to be turned off by food that doesn’t suit your expectations.
Eating is a ritual we practice many times a day, but do we treat such an act with the respect it deserves? Ordering food, going out, and buying convenience foods helps us save time and effort, but it separates us from having gratitude for the arduous process from food production to the plate.
Eating seems like an individual’s right. Don’t be mistaken. It is without a doubt a privilege for many people. Namely for those who can afford it. The more money one has, the greater advantage they have to eat nourishing food.
There’s one home-cooked meal a year I hold as the most sacred. I look forward to it most of the year, and when the day comes, I can hardly contain my excitement. I even reminisce about it for long after because it’s so special to me. It’s Christmas dinner.
In Germany, it’s common to eat goose with red cabbage, potatoes and a side of gravy. There’s nothing complicated or fancy about this meal; meat, veggies, and carbs. The delicious exquisiteness is in its simplicity.
Christmas Day is a meal I choose to eat slower than everyone else. With intention, my plate is almost as clean at the end of the meal as the start.
It’s warm, filling, fatty, savory, comforting, juicy, sweet, salty, crispy, soft, chewy and tender. Despite the simplicity of the meal, the depth of textures and flavors is phenomenal. I couldn’t be happier than to eat such a meal.
Whether you have time to make every meal for yourself or not, there’s much more to enjoy in a home-cooked meal. It’s one of the most underrated aspects of daily life. Do you remember that sandwich you ate over the sink as you rushed through your lunch break?
Probably not. But sharing Christmas dinner that took 2.5 days to prepare with a room full of loved ones gives us the opportunity to connect and make memories for a lifetime.
Our lives are enriched by cooking for ourselves. It involves experimenting, learning about ingredients, and it gives us more control over our own health and nutrition. When we invite others to share a meal, we reinforce our own sense of belonging, and those memories make life enjoyable.
What is the value of your life if you have nothing delightful to reflect back on? This is what makes the effort of cooking for yourself and others worthwhile. You open the opportunity to do more than nourish your physical body.
Human Contact
It’s a well-known fact, one of the top cures for depression is having people to connect with. We are social creatures who need stimulation in many ways. Human contact gives us the grounding and sense of belonging that we need to feel validated and accepted.
Human contact, as I’m referring to it, is both social and physical. It feeds the mind and body. We aren’t just connected physically with others around us. Sure, we shake hands, we hug, we pat on the back, we high five, etc. But, we also smile, wink, give eye contact, nod in agreement, and laugh.
Have you ever had a day where you connected with friends and family? Perhaps you were exhausted by the end of it, but on one level you may have noticed how good it felt to catch up.
So often our days are consumed by focusing only on things that impact our lives that we forget how much we benefit from interacting with others.
All those smiles, hugs, and chuckles add up. Their extended absence leads us to loneliness and a myriad of other negative emotions.
When we send that text, make that call, drive over to that house, show up with a small token of appreciation in our hands; we are extending care, kindness, and connection.
Let’s call human contact a social currency — except when you give it out, you don’t become poorer; but rather wealthier. So it’s time we look at our accounts and manage our funds with a closer eye for the sake of our mental health.
To Wrap Things Up
We comfort, cherish and encourage ourselves in very basic ways. We listen to music, we eat tasty food, and we spend time with loved ones. Do we really take those moments in and notice their impact on our well being?
Taking advantage of something is results-oriented. We use food as a tool because we want to look or feel a certain way. We use it to sustain ourselves, but we rarely take it in — one slow bite at a time. We use people in our lives to help us get what we want; our co-workers, our parents, customer service reps, etc, but we rarely take the time to say thank you, or to pay back a favor. We listen to music often while we work, commute, or perform chores; but we forget the extent to which talented art shapes who we are and how we feel.
So we should enjoy what we have, and experience life with all our senses. There’s more depth to life than plainly hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching in our daily lives.
