I’ve just returned from a meditation/writing workshop called The Stories We Carry, at the Kripalu Center in western Massachusetts. Our facilitator was Dani Shapiro, author of many books including her latest memoir, Hourglass. It is the story of her 20 years (and still going) marriage; a thoughtful meditation on time, memory, and relationships. The thing is that, while we remember the big life-changing events in life, it’s the memories of ordinary life that are the most precious.

I often find parallels in the creative process between writers, painters, and photographers. During the weekend, Shapiro read this from her book, Still Writing.

“We are revealed to ourselves … through our daily actions. When making my son’s breakfast, I try to focus simply on cracking the eggs, melting the butter, toasting the bread. It doesn’t get more elemental than that. As I drive down country roads taking Jacob to school, I remind myself to focus on the way the sunlight plays on the surface of a pond, the silhouettes of cows in a field. I’ve learned that it isn’t easy to witness what is actually happening. The eggs, the cows. But my days are made up of these moments. If I dismiss the ordinary – waiting for the special, the extreme, the extraordinary to happen – I may just miss my life.”

I was lucky to be away at a retreat in an extraordinary place, yet ordinary life was happening all around me. People were cooking meals, cleaning, and making sure everything was running smoothly. The sun rose and set each day, just as it does at home. Signs of the changing seasons were everywhere. There were falling leaves, frogs in the pond, fungus growing on fallen branches, and squirrels collecting nuts. I tried to pay attention to these ordinary moments while I was there.

Later, in the same piece, she writes,

“It is the job of the writer (substitute photographer) to say, look at that. To point. To shine a light. But it isn’t that which is already bright and beckoning that needs our attention. We develop our sensitivity – to use John Berger’s phrase, our “ways of seeing,” in order to bear witness to what is.”

All of this is to say, don’t ever underestimate ordinary life.

** Books mentioned have Amazon affiliate links, meaning I make a few cents if you purchase through my link. I only recommend books that I’ve read.