The Zen in a Spinning Wheel

As you read my posts you will likely tire of hearing how great my life is. But the fact is, I have a great life. Not because it is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. No, my I have a great life first, because I choose to look to the positives and not dwell (nor ignore) the negatives. Second, I can honestly say I have a great life because between personal experiences, and the experiences of those I help every day I know how it could be.

Today many people might not consider that spectacular of a day. I got up, went to work, after work spent time on a hobby, had dinner, and now am sharing this with you. I however choose to see today differently, according to my "great life" view, it looked more like this...

I woke up to a still snow covered ground, but celebrated that the temps stayed high enough the roads were just wet, mostly, which meant I got to ride my motorcycle to work (not an unusual occurance, but since my stroke I celebrate every riding day.) Once at work I have the opportunity to actually help people, which always warms my heart. I keep a file of success stories for those colder hearted days (you know when I am feeling like a "regular" lawyer.)

Now one of the downsides of non-profit law is that it does not pay well. Like I said my life is far from perfect. However one nice exchange is that since we don't get overtime occasionally getting out of the office early is an option. Today was just such a day. I headed out to 3rd Street Clayworks, where I do pottery. Very Zen. I have a love of wheel thrown pottery, and even enjoy slab building, although I am too impatient to be good at that.

This evening I had the opportunity to throw on a new wheel, a "Randall" wheel. For me this was huge, the style of wheel fit my throwing style and technique to a "T". It felt almost symbiotic between me and the wheel working together, rather than the way it had felt, like me having to "opperate" the student wheels. It just felt amazing. And that made for a very productive evening. I was able to throw several mugs, a couple of bowls, and a grapefruit juicer, and still have enough time to glaze a dozen other mugs I had previously thrown.

Then, after all that, I get a 50 degree bike ride home (which is plenty warm in case you are wondering.) Topped off by walking in to find that my wonderful wife had cooked me breakfast for dinner (one of my favorite meals.)

So yes, in some ways today was just a "normal" day, and not that great. But from the Zen of the spinning wheel to the little miracles, I think it was one of the greatest days of my life.


Retro