On the last day of 2019, I was feeling a bit dull, lethargic and nostalgic sitting at home in Cambridge. It was cold and grey outside, and I was looking for something to lift me up.
Not food because I wanted to save my appetite for our New Year’s Eve dinner which was less than two hours away. Not a Netflix film, a book or a magazine article because I had just finished writing the last chapter of my first novel numbering 400 some pages, and my dry eyes were hurting from computer strain. But my ears? My ears were itching to listen to some mellow music or a thoughtful and spiritual podcast. Podcast – yes. I wanted to hear some words of wisdom, wrapped in the form of curious questions and honest answers, not so much from the intellect but from the soul.
On Being with Krista Tippett is my usual go-to podcast for intelligent probing and spiritual nourishment. So I quickly took out my iPhone and surfed the latest episodes and stumbled on one that caught my eye – “The Conversational Nature of Reality” with the poet/philosopher David Whyte. Within minutes of their dialogue, David began reciting his poem – Everything is Waiting for you. My ears perked up and glued to the Airpods as if every word he spoke was a mirror on my soul.
“Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. You must note the way the soap dish enables you, or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you.“
As Krista fondly repeated the essence of this poetic line – “Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.” I nodded. Yes. I’d overlooked the familiar. The everyday object that is inanimate and alive – the stairs, the birds, the door, the sky – all that surrounds me from top to bottom and side by side exist with a message that our existence is also our co-existence, and that we are all connected and interdependent. In that moment, I found myself nudging closer to the window that’s leaking in a nippy draft. Yes it was cold, but I turned up my nostrils to inhale it. It opened my lungs and made me feel strong. I took in the chill because my body desired something refreshing and could handle it. I am healthy! In that instant, I thought of loved ones who were sick or struggling. Then, I took the staircase down to our living room and felt my bare feet touching the carpeted steps which gave me a nice snug to the sole. Surprisingly, the sensation of grounding as I was descending also gave me a bit of a thrill. There was a bounce! My spirit was lightening up as I approached the white shutters half-opened to embrace our tiny little Christmas tree wired with twinkling lights and dangling ornaments, standing brightly against the dark street outside. What’s happened? Nothing externally, yet everything changed internally.
Everything changed when I actively noticed and tuned into the familiar surroundings that spoke to me in a different way. Everything is waiting for me to notice their function, their form, and their friendliness. Surely, they have been unfriendly, non-functioning or uninviting at times, but I must not forget that I too have been too busy or too sick to feel fully alive in the world.
Being fully alive is to be fully aware and in touch with your present reality, knowing that nature is there to converse with you. You are not alone or abandoned. Everything is waiting for you.