“What’s the matter?” Red asked when she made a 4 a.m. pit stop and saw me sitting in my office writing in my journal.
“Nothing’s the matter,” I said. “I just couldn’t get back to sleep.”
And it was true. Yes, I’d given up trying to go back to la-la land after 15-20 minutes of my mind bouncing around about things that needed to be done that day, preparing for a coming snowstorm, clipping dog nails, cleaning my messy office, getting back to practicing guitar, reading Discworld books, writing Jeep Thompson books, writing blog posts, marketing my books, listening to the wind chimes trying to fade back to sleep, thinking about day-job issues, streaming consciousness …
But by the time Red asked what the matter was, it didn’t matter, and I was just journaling and exploring.
I was finding the dance in the chaos.
I was finding the rhythm in the maelstrom.
I was hearing the melody in those wind chimes.
Nothing’s the matter. We spend too much time looking for The Matter and not enough time enjoying the perfection, too much time building cases against one another and not enough time dancing. Do you remember how to dance?
We spend so much time contemplating what ails us and not-so-much time enjoying our health.
There comes a time in every song when the words must pause and let the melody sing.
We keep looking for problems when the joy of living is right in front of us.
